Almost 400 new jobs are to be created in north Dublin by a new pharmaceutical investment, expected to be announced today by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney.
The announcement of the new project, believed to involve an investment of €30-€40 million,comes just days after Celestica announced it was closing its facility in nearby Swords, with the loss of 250 full-time jobs.
The investment is being undertaken by a German company, Gerard Laboratories, which already has a sizeable operation in Baldoyle, where around 250 people are employed. The new investment is expected to be located close to its current facility, which is in the Baldoyle Industrial Estate.
The company, owned by German multinational E. Merck, develops and manufactures generic pharmaceuticals for a range of overseas markets and has particularly large business in the UK market.
Following the Celestica announcement last week, Ms Harney indicated that new jobs for the area would be announced shortly and she is likely to have been referring to today's announcement. The news will be welcome in north Dublin, which has suffered a string of job losses in recent years, including significant redundancies at Motorola and Gateway.
The project is one of a number of major pharmaceutical investments believed to be in the IDA Ireland pipeline. With the difficulties in the information technology and communications sector, pharmaceuticals has been a key area for IDA activity and sources say a number of significant investments are on the way.
Other major projects announced recently in the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors include Abbott Laboratories in Sligo and Longford, Inamed in Arklow, Taro in Roscrea and Altana in Carrigtwohill, Cork.
Pharmaceuticals and healthcare have been the key growth sectors in the economy over the past year, with a major increase in exports supporting the overall level of trade and contributing significantly to economic growth.
