Pharmaceutical company Pfizer Ireland yesterday confirmed that it is to apply for planning permission for a €170 million facility on its site at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour which, if it goes ahead, will create between 70 and 100 jobs.

A Pfizer spokeswoman confirmed that a planning application will be lodged with Cork County Council in the coming weeks but emphasised that no decision had yet been taken by Pfizer regarding final company approval for the plant.

"At this stage there is no guarantee that the facility will go ahead. It's subject to final internal approval by the company, but applying for planning permission is a requirement which must be made before the company can make a final decision, and Ringaskiddy is the proposed site."

The company is proposing to locate the small-scale biologics facility on the site of the former ADM plant at Shanbally in Ringaskiddy, where it would carry out the final stages of clinical trial processes and conduct research on the later stages of the development of new medicines.

No date has yet been set for the completion of the facility, pending internal company approval, but it is envisaged that, if approved, the facility would be involved in potential clinical trials in areas such as oncology and chronic pain therapies, the Pfizer spokeswoman said.

Last February, Pfizer Ireland announced that it was to cut 65 jobs at one of its production units in the Ringaskiddy plant. It also plans to sell off two other plants employing a further 480 staff in a major restructuring operation.

Dr Paul Duffy, site leader at Pfizer's Ringaskiddy plant, said last February that the company planned to sell one of its two plants at Loughbeg, which employs 300 people, in 2008, while it plans to sell off part of its plant at Little Island, where 180 people are employed, in 2009.

Dr Duffy explained that all three plants were involved in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) such as Sildenafil for Viagra. Pfizer is currently suffering from an oversupply worldwide in its API manufacturing capacity.

The Pfizer spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that the company remained committed to the sale of one of the Loughbeg plants and part of the Little Island plant as going concerns. Consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers will be bringing both to market within months.

Pfizer opened its Ringaskiddy plant in 1972 and the company currently employs some 2,300 people in Ireland. About 1,800 are employed in manufacturing at four plants in Cork and one in Dún Laoghaire, with some 500 involved in support services in Dublin.