Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 November 2014
213. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on a recent company takeover (details supplied); if he or IDA Ireland has been in contact with company management in relation to its employment plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45080/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraAllergan have a major plant in Westport Co. Mayo, providing very significant employment there. The Government is very committed to supporting this facility.
There have been some very significant mergers and acquisition in the Pharmaceutical sector over recent years, which are an ongoing feature of that industry at present. It was recently publicly announced that Allergan is being acquired by Actavis Plc. Actavis is already a key client of IDA Ireland and once this acquisition is completed, and following the already completed acquisitions of Forest Labs and Warner Chilcott, the company will now employ over 1,600 people in Ireland.
Senior executives from IDA Ireland will be meeting with Senior Management of Actavis very shortly and they will emphasise the importance of regional investments in manufacturing, such as Allergan provides in Westport and will also reinforce IDA’s intention to continue to work closely with the company in the future, in order to ensure that all the Irish operations remain competitive.
IDA Ireland is aware of the ongoing requirements to secure and embed employment in Allergan’s Westport facility and in this respect the $350M expansion (announced in 2012) of its Botox manufacturing facility there is now very near to completion. This strategic investment by the company will expand its capacity into the highly specialised area of “aseptic” manufacturing. Allergan has made investments, with support from my Department, through the IDA, to build upon its excellent track record in this area and it is likely that Actavis will be keen to maximise the utilisation of this highly specialised capacity into the future. It will be particularly important for Actavis to have the capacity to supply the ongoing growth in sales of Botox and produce other biologic products which are in the pipeline, which require aseptic manufacturing.
