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By Deirdre Kelly
One hundred and seventy new jobs are to be created at the Westport -based Allergan Pharmaceuticals plant. Over the next three years the jobs will come on stream as the company significantly expands its eye care products manufacturing facility. Recruitment for the new positions is already underway. The major jobs boost for the west Mayo area was announced on Friday by the Táiniste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney. Construction on an additional 45,000 sq. ft. facility will commence soon to accommodate the expansion. Allergan was first established in Westport in 1978 and already employs nearly seven hundred people. This latest investment, supported by IDA Ireland, will bring further major benefits to Westport through new jobs and an increase in purchasing from sub-suppliers. Ms. Harney paid tribute to the employees of the company, under the management of Colam O'Neill and his team, for making the Allergan plant the success story it is. The investment, part of a world-wide restructuring programme by Allergan, will be of strategic importance for the Westport facility, she said. It will result in the construction and equipping of a 4,180 square metre extension, the consolidation of a world-wide manufacture of sterile tablets in Westport, and the facility becoming responsible for supplying Allergan's eye care market in Japan. Allergan Pharmaceuticals Ireland specialises in the manufacture of sterile solutions and tablets for the contact lens care market. It is now the single largest manufacturing plant in the Allergan Group, with nearly 700 employees in Westport, and has exceeded all targets since it was established in 1978. The company also have a second pharmaceutical plant in Westport which produces 'Botox', an injectable solution for treating involuntary muscular spasms, and other prescription eye care products. This plant began operations in 1992. It currently employs forty people and exports world-wide. Earlier this year, in April, Allergan established a Shared Services operation in Dublin to service the company's European customers. It already employs half of the 90 people scheduled for recruitment within two years and it is proposed that 20 of the jobs will be located in Westport. Allergan Inc., with its base in California, employs over 6,000 people, has sales of $1.2 billion, with markets spread across one hundred countries.
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