Concerns over pharma in Waterford
Amgen corporate office, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.
Concerns have been raised that multinational pharmaceutical companies with sites in Waterford may be prioritising operations in Dublin or withdrawing from Waterford altogether.
West Pharmaceuticals, who employ over 1,400 people across its Dublin and Waterford operations, have announced the opening of a new 165,000 square foot expansion at its Dublin site, creating 330 new jobs in the capital.
Meanwhile, Amgen are due to close their operations in Waterford entirely, later this year.
“To ensure that Waterford remains a competitive and attractive location for future global investment, has the Council Executive met with senior management of both Amgen and West Pharmaceutical to establish the specific reason behind their decisions?” asked Cllr Donal Barry this week.
“Establishing the reasons these two major companies choose Dublin over Waterford is vitally important for our local economy if we want to attract investment," he added.
In response to the query, Chief Executive of Waterford City and County Council, Sean McKeown, said: "A lot of these decisions are taken internationally from headquarters elsewhere and I don’t believe its anything particular to Waterford. We work consistently and constantly with the IDA to ensure our client companies are happy here."
“We have had very positive meetings in terms of their experience here and there are some minor issues that we will hopefully be able to address with West Pharma in relation to access, public transport and connectivity to their site.”
