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A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY has announced a €150 million investment in a new BioPark campus in Cork Harbour, creating 500 full-time jobs, plus 800 construction jobs.
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor today announced the investment, which will feature four factories at the IDA’s site in Loughbeg, Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork.
GE BioPark Cork, subject to contract and planning approvals, will feature Europe’s first KUBio – prefabricated, off-the-shelf bio-manufacturing facilities, owned and run by GE’s biopharma customers.
The BioPark is expected to be home to more than 500 new jobs when fully operational – 400 with biopharma companies and a further 100 employed directly by GE. The construction phase, subject to planning approvals, is expected to begin by mid- 2017 and create up to 800 construction jobs.
GE said that patient demand for innovative medicines is driving rapid global growth of the biopharmaceutical industry, resulting in significant need for more production capacity.
GE Healthcare is a multinational employing 46,000 people worldwide, 600 of them in Cork.
They already have a global manufacturing site at Carrigtwohill in East Cork, which saw a €40 million investment in the plant – but in August they told local media in Cork they had to withdraw several dozen job offers, following an industrial relations dispute at the plant.
Emissions
The KUBios planned by GE are between 25-50% more cost-effective to build than traditional facilities.
They said the Co2 emissions can be reduced by up to 75%, while water and energy use can be reduced by around 80%. Build time can be shortened to 18 months from the usual three years.
“The biopharma industry makes a huge contribution to the Irish economy in terms of jobs and manufacturing exports, and is one of the fastest growing sectors,” said Minister for Jobs Mitchell O’Connor.
This is a further testament to our talented workforce. All investment and jobs created has a positive knock on effect on the wider region.Over 28,000 people currently work in biopharma and 6,000 of those work in biologics.
“This subsector is expected to double in the coming years and will provide both a challenge and an opportunity for the industry and training providers to collaborate on promoting the range of career opportunities available.”
Kieran Murphy, the chief executive of life sciences at GE Healthcare said that pharma companies worldwide are “racing to respond” to patient needs with new life-changing biological medicines.
We are delighted to be investing once again in Ireland, where we have ourselves a long history of manufacturing our own medical imaging products.
Seamus McGrath, the mayor of County Cork, and Tim Lucey, chief executive of Cork County Council, welcomed the announcement.
“The choice of Ireland, and especially Ringaskiddy, for this important investment by GE is a significant win for industry in the Cork Region and an endorsement of Cork as the leading location for such investment,” they said, in a joint statement.
The creation of more than 500 new jobs in the BioPark will be a huge boost in the region, they added.
1,500 professionals
IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan, said the location of the BioPark in Ireland was a “significant win”. He said:
Ireland has won more than €10 billion in the past 10 years in biotech investment.
In a separate development, GE and the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) have a plan to create a centre of excellence at NIBRT’s Dublin facility, to train 1,500 bioprocessing professionals annually.
Dominic Carolan, chief executive of the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, based in Dublin, said the development “will accelerate the introduction of these new technologies to the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry,” increasing access to therapies.
Fantastic news but the road to ringaskiddy needs a massive upgrade and pronto.
The traffic is already a nightmare and is set to get much busier before this particular project even starts
It’s in the planning stages. M28 twill be. Cork really needs a big investment in the road network. Dunkettle, the north ring road and the obvious M20 all need to be done now.
Very true Mary and most importantly the government need to act on the old ISPAT site and clean it up. The money allowed wouldn’t scratch the surface of the clean up. This is welcome news but they need to get their house in order first.
The challenge is that this will be open before the M28.
About the only short-term fix possible is an upgrade of the bus service, ideally incorporating a bus from Carrigaline to Ringaskiddy.
If we could just get driving instructors to stop using it for lessons it would improve things. Also what are the road works in Shanbally?? They don’t seem to be doing anything except holding up traffic.
@Rob Cahill: Those roadworks are courtesy of Irish Water.
@Barry Higgins: I wish i didn’t know that now :(
A timely reminder of which side our bread is buttered on in the EU vs. US corporate sector debate
Yes, our bread is buttered on both sides. One relies on the other.
@Denito: great point made Denito
No comments from the usual hard left gang on this story i see. Of course these jobs are unwelcome to them because the company that has created them wants to make a profit and exploit the workers by employing them .
So I noticed Bob. They just love negativity.
Great news on both fronts… jobs and environmental construction & operation
Great news for the area.
Great news for cork
It is very noticeable the deep water berth in Ringaskiddy is getting busier by the day with bigger ships arriving all the time,and the fact it is being used by large ocean liners when the Cobh berth is occupied just adds to the amount of traffic generated by the heavy goods vehicles and car vehicle deliveries using the port, one of the conditions for the planned move of Tivoli docks to the lower harbour is a road upgrade to motorway standard which cant come soon enough for residents in Carrigaline and surrounding areas,this latest jobs boost and construction employment is very welcome news indeed but the road upgrade now needs to be fast tracked otherwise major traffic bottlenecks and delays are enevitable.
I hope it doesn’t turn out like the AmGen sit in Carrigtwohill.
Ttttt
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