The pharmaceutical company Shire will create 400 jobs in Co. Meath over the next four years. The jobs are part of a planned investment of $400 million in Ireland.
Shire announced that it would build a “new, state of the art” biologics manufacturing campus in Piercetown, Co. Meath. Construction will begin in the middle of 2016, and the site is expected to be open by mid-2019.
According to Shire, the Irish plant will form a core part of the company's aim of becoming the world’s leading biotechnology company focused on rare diseases and conditions.
“The expansion will enable us to meet increasing product demands, support our pipeline and, ultimately, help more patients,” said Shire's chief executive Flemming Ornskov.
"We are delighted to be expanding our operations in Ireland, where we have strong, existing relationships. The new campus in Co. Meath will provide necessary geographic diversification and will help us serve our growing international business.”
Tim Kelly, Shire senior vice president of technical operations said Ireland was a “strategically important location” for the company, providing both “excellence in life science R&D and manufacturing.”
“We already have a strong team on the ground in Ireland and believe that it is the right location for us to build a new state of the art facility which will complement our existing manufacturing operations in the US,” he said.
An additional 700 additional jobs will be created during the construction of the plant.