The Cabinet yesterday took the crucial decision to sanction a substantial grant aid proposal from the IDA for a £200 million biotechnology project in Waterford city that will deliver 480 badly needed jobs over the next five years.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Genzyme, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies, will locate its new Irish subsidiary in the 120,000 sq ft plant formerly occupied by the Italian-owned Luxottica - makers of RayBan sunglasses - which closed last year with the loss of 250 jobs. Some 32 acres will be made available for the plant's scheduled expansion. Announcing the project yesterday, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said the Genzyme facility would be a high value operation and would have a major impact on Waterford.
Recruitment of the plant's management will begin immediately and the first staff will be on site within a year. But it will be mid-2003 before the facility is fully operational and approved for manufacturing by the regulatory authorities. It is expected to reach the target of 480 employees by 2006.
Waterford's job creation prospects have been in the doldrums for several years. A significant factor in attracting Genzyme to the plant has been the Institute of Technology, an IDA spokesman said, given its positive response to the prospect of a biotechnology industry locating here.
But there are still major issues to be addressed in Waterford, such as infrastructure including the roads network, energy problems and the severe decline of the airport. These matters need to be resolved "at local level", according to the IDA, which will open a regional headquarters in Waterford in September.
The membership of Strategy Waterford, the special task force set up by the Tanaiste last February, was formally announced yesterday.
The IDA has been under pressure to deliver a meaningful jobs package for the southeast region - where the disposable income per capital was 12 per cent below the State average in 1998. The region was bottom of the league for the Republic's eight regional authority areas.
"The south-east region has Objective One status in all but name," said Waterford task force member Mike Jennings, the SIPTU regional secretary. A false impression could be given, he said, by the fact that officially this was not a disadvantaged region in EU parlance, such as the Border Midlands and West region.
Mr Jennings held an emergency meeting on Monday in Wexford to review the jobs crisis in the county in the light of Alco Europe's decision to cease operations at its Wexal International plant in Enniscorthy, with the loss of 150 jobs. It is the largest single employer in the Enniscorthy area, and its closure will have devastating consequences, SIPTU insists, if a replacement industry is not found.
There has been no location of a single major industry in the county in the past 20 years, Mr Jennings said. "It's in danger of dying a slow death. The high-fibre-optic cable being landed at Kilmore Quay will go straight to the City West development in Dublin, with no inter connector or loop back to Wexford."
Another major problem for Wexford and its environs is the fact that it has low participation rates in third-level education, a high dependency on agriculture, poorly developed services and a poor record in attracting high technology investment. SIPTU is to hold a special seminar on September 17th to review the jobs crisis in Wexford.
The following are members of Strategy Waterford, the special task force set up by the Tanaiste:
Mr Nicholas Fewer (Fewer, McGinley & Associates), chairman
Mr Mike Jennings, SIPTU regional secretary for the south-east;
Ms Mary Dorgan, human resources manager, Waterford Glass;
Mr Philip Myler, president of the Waterford Trades Council;
Mr Brendan Cummins, managing director of Irish Fertilizer Industries;
Ms Una Parsons, management consultant;
Dr Tom O'Toole, head of the business studies department at Waterford Institute of Technology;
Mr Eddie Breen, the city manager;
Mr John Clancy, the port manager. The task force has three exofficio members:
Mr John Phelan, employment services manager, FAS;
Mr Michael Maguire, regional director, Enterprise Ireland;
Mr Pat Loftus, IDA regional manager.