NETHERLANDS-BASED FOOD group Vion is to create 164 jobs in Northern Ireland as part of a significant £11.5 million (€13.7 million) investment programme at its Co Tyrone pig-processing facility.

Separately, Field Management Ireland (FMI) is to create 100 sales jobs after it won a contract with Electric Ireland, while more than 40 new jobs are being created at Ireland West Airport in Knock following the opening up of several new routes.

Vion’s Cookstown operation, which produces a range of pork, sausages, bacon and cooked meats, is a major supporter of Northern Ireland’s agricultural industry.

The Cookstown facility, the largest on the island, processes more than half of all the North’s pigs.

Vion employs more than 700 people in the mid-Ulster region, which has been hit hard by the construction downturn.

FMI will manage Electric Ireland’s field sales activity in 2012, selling gas and energy services directly to consumers in addition to home-energy services such as gas boiler maintenance, home insulation and boiler replacement.

Electric Ireland’s general manager, Liam Molloy, said the energy company had made “significant gains” last year, and had exceeded sales targets.

Flights on four new Ryanair routes commenced this week from Ireland West Airport, with the new services to Paris, Barcelona. Frankfurt and Milan set to bring in an extra 30,000 visitors to the region.

Joe Gilmore, managing director of Ireland West, said that the airport now hoped to surpass last year’s record of 710,000 passengers.