Abbott expansion set to create 700 jobs

US healthcare company Abbott Laboratories will create 700 jobs in Galway and Cavan over the coming five years, it was announced yesterday.

The Chicago-based company plans to invest more than €140 million in expanding existing facilities in the two locations. The growth will be supported through grant aid from IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.

In Galway, Abbott will increase production capacity and establish a research and development centre at the vascular devices plant it purchased from UK company Biocompatibles earlier this year.

Total investment at the facility will amount to more than €50 million over five years, including IDA support. The expansion will focus on the development and production of devices for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Recruitment has already begun at the Galway plant, which employs 160 people in manufacturing.

Abbott expects 180 new staff to be hired within three years, and a further 320 to be added before 2008. Of the total, about 40 per cent will be graduates, according to Abbott finance director Mr Bill Carty.

Announcing the Galway investment, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney said it offered proof of the Republic's continued competitiveness. "The investment will further enhance the reputation of the west of Ireland as a world-recognised location for the manufacture and, increasingly, the development of medical devices, adding to the cluster of world-leading companies in this sector already located in the region," the Tánaiste said.

Ms Harney added that the Abbott expansion should also create employment opportunities within sub-supply and sub-contract companies that will do business with Abbott. In Cootehill, Co Cavan, Abbott will invest €88 million on developing its infant formula manufacturing plant over the next three years.

The investment, which will create 100 jobs at the facility, will be supported by Enterprise Ireland.

Just less than half of the new employees will be hired before the end of next year, according to Mr Carty, who expects one-third of the new recruits to be graduates.

Abbott plans to double production capacity at Cootehill through the expansion.

The investment was announced by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Joe Walsh, who said that it would enhance the Cootehill plant's ability to compete for next-generation nutritional projects in the future. Nutrition has been targeted by the Minister as a focus for future investment growth.

Mr Walsh said that the Abbott expansion would be highly beneficial for local suppliers of raw materials such as milk, with the company likely to purchase supplies worth €43 million in the Cavan area by 2005.

Abbott employs more than 1,800 staff in seven facilities in the Border and western regions. It began operating in the Republic in 1946 and currently contributes more than €150 million to the economy each year through wages and the purchase of raw materials and services.