THE LARGEST multinational in the west yesterday announced it is reducing its workforce, with 175 jobs to go at the Boston Scientific plant in Galway.
The move comes just eight months after the US medical devices company announced the creation of 45 jobs at its plant at Ballybrit in Galway, as part of a €91 million investment.
The company employs more than 3,000 people in Galway and a further 2,000 at its plants in Cork and Clonmel in Co Tipperary. In recent years the company closed smaller plants at Tullamore, Co Offaly, and Letterkenny, Co Donegal, and moved all manufacturing to Galway.
Boston Scientific said in a statement yesterday that it remained “strongly committed” to its operations in Ireland.
It said the Irish plants “are recognised as making a significant contribution to the organisation’s global operations network”.
A spokeswoman for Boston Scientific said the job losses were in response to “current market production needs” and that consultations would take place with staff over the next few weeks.
Boston Scientific is the world’s leading producer of drug-eluting stents – stents coated in drugs and polymers to prevent cleared arteries from getting blocked up again.
Boston Scientific last week announced it had agreed to pay $1.73 billion to end three longrunning patent disputes over heart stents with medical rival Johnson Johnson.
The company’s fourth-quarter results are due out on Thursday.
News of the jobs loss at Galway’s biggest employer was greeted with dismay last night, with the first of the workers expected to be let go in March.
Michael Coyle, chief executive of Galway Chamber of Commerce, said the loss of 175 jobs was a blow to Galway, but must be seen in perspective.
Mr Coyle said there were 5,000 people working for Boston Scientific in Ireland and 3,000 of those were in Galway, and that last year the company indicated its commitment to the region with further investment.
The availability of a highly-educated and skilled workforce has been regularly cited by Boston Scientific as one of the primary reasons for its continued investment in Galway.
The company was enticed to Galway in the early 1990s following the closure of the Digital plant – then Galway’s largest employer – in Ballybrit.
It is now the largest manufacturing site within the corporation.with over 3,000 staff involved in research, development and manufacture of cardiology and peripheral vascular products.