The expansion of a US eye-care company's operations in Cork will create 186 jobs, it was announced today.
Alcon is undertaking a €15.6 million expansion of its Irish operation - Alcon Laboratories Ireland Ltd - at the IDA Business & Technology Park in Model Farm Road in Cork.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, today officially opened the completed first phase for Alcon's Cork operation and announced a further investment of €21.14 million toward the creation of the new jobs.
Alcon is the world’s largest ophthalmic company, with sales of $5.6 billion and profits of $1.5 billion in 2007. It develops pharmaceuticals, surgical equipment and devices, contact lens care and other products for the treatment of eye diseases.
The company arrived in Cork in 2000 and is the first site outside of the United States to make Alcon’s leading surgical product - an intraocular, prosthetic lens that replaces the eye’s natural lens following cataract surgery.
“This is a fantastic day for Alcon and for Cork. We are here today celebrating the rapid completion and opening of its first phase of development and with it, the superb news that the company is going to further invest and create new job opportunities," Mr Martin said.
Ed McGough, senior vice president of manufacturing for Alcon, said: “The successful transformation of our Cork manufacturing plant from the production of large refractive lasers to small, complex intraocular lenses is a testament to the ingenuity of the highly motivated workforce we have in Cork."
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