Pfizer to cut Irish jobs and sell-off units

Pfizer Ireland is to close part of its Ringaskiddy site with the loss of up to 65 jobs and will sell off two other units employing 480 staff in Co Cork over the next two years.

In a statement this morning, Pfizer said the Ringaskiddy site would close by the end of this year resulting in the likely loss of 65 jobs. Some of these staff may be offered roles elsewhere in the company, although the extent to which these staff can be redeployed has yet to be confirmed.

It added that a portion of the active pharmaceutical ingredients factory at Little Island and all manufacturing at the Loughbeg plant be phased out by 2009. Some 180 people at Little Island and about 300 at Loughbeg will be affected.

According to Pfizer, these units will be sold as going concerns. This will "preserve jobs at these two locations. Both are state-of-the-art facilities with highly-educated and skilled workforces", the company said.

The sell-offs will result in a fall of 40 per in the company's pharmaceutical ingredients capacity. Pfizersaid it has successfully completed number of similar sales and was appointing a project team to handle the Irish sales.

Terry Lambe, Pfizer's vice president of manufacturing for Ireland and Singapore, said this morning the plan was of an ongoing initiative to align global manufacturing capacity with product demand.

The process will result in more than a 50 per cent reduction in Pfizer's global plant network over a four-year period.

Mr Lambe said the an in-depth review of the company's pharmaceutical ingredients operation in Ireland had "concluded that these reductions are required to bring our capacity in line with anticipated demand."

He emphasized that the company considers Ireland a key manufacturing location and continues to make significant investments here.

"New technologies are changing the way pharmaceuticals are being manufactured and Pfizer is investing in those technologies in Ireland," he said.

Mr Lambe pointed to the investment of $250 million on sterile operations at the Dublin plant; $100 million in new technology and $25 million on two process development facilities in Cork; and the initiation of a project for a new biologicals small scale facility in Cork.

Management at Pfizer has held meeting with staff at the affected sites this morning to brief them.

Pfizer has a number of different businesses Ireland employing close to 2,300 people with a capital investment of in excess of €1billion. As well as its six manufacturing plants, the US pharmaceutical giant also runs a Dublin treasury centre, providing treasury and in-house banking services to Pfizer affiliates worldwide, and Pfizer International Bank Europe, both based in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre.

Last year Pfizer announced 10,000 job cuts as it aimed to slash annual costs by $2 billion. The cuts aim to reduce total worldwide workforce by 10 per cent.

At the end of last year Pfizer ceased work on Torcetrapib, a cholesterol treatment drug that was to replace anti-cholesterol Lipitor, the patent on which is due to expire in 2011.

Torcetrapib was expected to have been manufactured in Cork.

Minister for Enterprise Michael Martin said the news was very disappointing. "I have been assured that the company will be offering

every support to these workers, in addition FAS will make contact with each of these individuals to assist them in seeking alternative employment."

Labour Party TD for Cork North Central Kathleen Lynch said the announcement, coming just a week after job losses were confirmed at Motorola and less than a month after the announcement that the FCI plant in Fermoy was to close, suggested serious problems for entire economy in Cork.

She said the Government had become complacent as high paid manufacturing jobs are replaced by generally poorer paid positions in the services sector.