Pharma giant Pfizer to create 130 jobs in Dublin, Cork

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is to create 130 jobs in Dublin and Cork over the next year with recruitment already underway.

The company, which has been in Ireland since 1969, employs approximately 3,200 people locally across six operations.

Pfizer’s facility at Grange Castle, west Dublin, which manufactures a number of medicines and vaccines, is looking to recruit 90 staff. The site, which has secured some $300 million in investment in recent years to expand production capability, is looking to recruit process scientists; process/equipment engineers; automation engineers; operations specialists; process technicians; quality analysts and project managers.

The group’s Ringaskiddy and Little Island sites in Co Cork are to hire 40 people with roles including process operators, mechanical & electrical/instrumentation craft, process engineers, process chemists, and quality control analysts.

Pfizer’s Ringaskiddy site recently secured $30 million investment to manufacture some of Pfizer’s newest cancer medicines and other future pipeline medicines.

"Pharmaceutical manufacturing in Ireland continues to perform well contributing strongly to exports and economic growth, and providing good careers and jobs," said Dr Paul Duffy, vice president of Pfizer Ireland.

Earlier this year Pfizer reversed a decision to close its manufacturing facility at Little Island in Cork in a move that saved 160 jobs.

The company announced plans to shut down the plant in May 2013 due to falling demand for key products. It had expected to evacuate the premises by August 2014 with production moving to the nearby Ringaskiddy plant. However, last year the company put the move on hold due to increased demand for its cholesterol-lowering medication Atorvastatin.

The company said in March however that projected demand for the product had led it to decide to continue manufacturing the product at Little Island for the foreseeable future.