Merck creates 80 jobs in extended plant

A £130 million (€165 million) investment by Merck Sharp & Dohme near Clonmel in Co Tipperary has resulted in the creation of 80 jobs at the plant, bringing full-time employment at its Irish operations to nearly 400 people. Some 30 more are employed on a temporary basis.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday officially opened the extension to the facility at Ballydine, which increases capacity by 50 per cent and brings the group's total investment in Ireland to £500 million.

The Tipperary factory is involved in the production of bulk chemicals for a wide range of healthcare products. These ingredients are exported to other Merck facilities around the world, where they are formulated into tablets and capsules. Among the products manufactured at Ballydine are drugs for the treatment of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, asthma, angina and migraine. Production at the new facility, which is located next to the company's existing facilities in the Suir Valley, began in May.

Merck said the expansion of its manufacturing capacity was made necessary by increasing worldwide demand for its products. The decision to locate the development in Tipperary was influenced by "Ireland's favourable economic and business climate and the confidence which Merck has in its Irish workforce", according to Mr Declan Buckley, general manager of the Irish operation.

The Republic's low corporate tax rate was also a key factor in attracting the expansion to Clonmel rather than to other Merck plants, such as the one in Singapore. Speaking at the opening of the new plant, Merck's chairman, president and chief executive officer, Mr Raymond Gilmartin, described the Irish operation "as one of Merck's most critical international facilities".

"The Ballydine expansion is a critical addition to our physical plant, indeed it is Merck's single largest investment in Europe," he said. The company, which employs more than 57,000 people worldwide and has sales of $26 billion (€24.6 billion), is investing $2.3 billion in production capacity and research facilities this year alone.

Mr Ahern said Merck's decision to further expand its operations was a vote of confidence in the Ballydine plant. "I believe, too, that it reflects a recognition of Ireland as a major centre for pharmaceutical investment in Europe," he said, noting that nine of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world had operations in the Republic. The Ballydine plant first opened in 1976. It is Merck's largest single plant outside the US, with an annual wage bill of £14 million, while it contributes £30 million to the local economy each year. Some 450 were employed in building the latest extension of the facility.