Some 360 staff at Allergan's plant in Arklow will learn their fate this morning at a meeting with management at the plant.
The Wicklow factory manufactures silicone breast implants, but there are fears that the plant may be closed and production transferred to a similar facility in Costa Rica. The meeting comes as the US company, which employs more than 7,500 people worldwide, reports its full-year results for 2007.
It is understood that unions at the factory have raised this possibility with management in recent months, but did not receive any strong assurances about the future of the plant.
Management has said it will meet with union representatives following the meeting with staff at 8.30am.
A spokeswoman for Allergan confirmed management was meeting staff this morning, but said it would be inappropriate to comment further.
The Arklow plant was opened in 1989 by global healthcare company Inamed.
In 2003 it announced a €7.4 million investment which it said would create more than 200 jobs in the following five years on top of the 190 staff employed at the time.
In addition to manufacturing, Inamed carried out research and development, customer support and regulatory functions in Arklow. The investment was backed by State development agency IDA Ireland.
Allergan, the pharmaceutical and medical device company which makes cosmetic treatment Botox, which smooths wrinkles, acquired Inamed for $3.2 billion in 2006.
Allergan also has a subsidiary in Westport, Co Mayo, Allergan Pharmaceuticals Ireland, which was founded in 1977 but is not impacted by events in Wicklow. It manufactures a range of pharmaceutical and biological products for its parent group.
This week Allergan released a statement rejecting suggestions by Public Citizen, a US consumer advocacy group founded by US consumer rights activist Ralph Nader, that Botox had been connected with the death of a person in 2004.
Public Citizen has called for the US Food and Drug Administration to publish more stringent warnings about Botox.
Allergan last November projected that worldwide sales for Botox would top $1.1 billion in 2007.
