Galway is set for a jobs boost as a U.S. company is set to move 240 jobs from California to the western Irish city.

Medtronic Inc, the world's largest medical device company, announced Friday that it was laying off  staff at the California plant and moving most of the jobs to the Galway plant in Parkmore which already employs about 2,000 people.

Company spokesman Chuck Grothaus said he expected the “vast majority” of the jobs to be moved there.

“We have many centers of excellence around across the world that are part of our global operation, and Galway is one of them” Grothaus said.

The company said the recent ound of lay-offs in California was part of a five-year plan to shift manufacturing to its “manufacturing center of excellence” in Ireland, where tax rates are lower.

At its Galway plant the company manufactures a range of products for its vascular division including stents, stent delivery systems, as well as products for the treatment of coronary artery disease.