Abbott and State agency IDA Ireland are investing €10 million in a new base for part of the multinational healthcare group's Irish business.
The US-based group is moving its Irish nutrition division from its base at Ballytivnan, Co Sligo, to a purpose-built IDA factory in Finisklin industrial estate, in the same county.
The company and agency are spending a combined €10 million on the building, where Abbott will centralise the business’s manufacturing and support operation in one place.
The unit employs 100 people and makes specialist food fed by tube and other methods to infants and patients undergoing hospital treatment for illness. It will move to Finisklin in the first half of next year.
Its new base will have space for extra jobs in manufacturing and support should Abbot create them in the future.
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is backing the investment through the IDA.
Abbott’s site director at Ballytivnan, Sean O’Hara, said the talent available in the Republic was key to the multinational maintaining operations here.
The American group established its first Irish operation in 1946, making it one of the longest-standing overseas investors here. It has six factories and 10 operations here.
IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan noted that the company contributed strongly to Irish exports.
Minister for Jobs Mary Mitchell O’Connor said the group’s relocation to a building with space for expansion was positive news for Sligo and the region.
“Abbott has been a tremendous success story in Ireland, with plants located in several regional centres providing valuable employment,” she said.
