The pharmaceutical giant Merck is to create 150 new high-skill jobs in Dublin, it was announced today. Merck’s MSD division is setting up its shared business centre for EMEA in south county Dublin.
According to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, the new financial services centre is “a strategic win for Ireland”.
“Its establishment means that the world’s two leading pharmaceutical companies have selected Dublin as the headquarters for their EMEA financial shared service centres,” he said.
Cowen also said MSD’s expansion represented “a significant endorsement by MSD of its Irish operation”, as well as “a major vote of confidence in Ireland as a location for strategically important investments by multinational companies”.
“It shows that we continue to have the capability and the capacity to attract high-quality foreign direct investment, despite a difficult global economic climate,” he added.
“Shared services activities are of great importance to the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland and they are fully in keeping with the Irish Government and IDA Ireland’s policy of supporting transformation within foreign direct investment companies.”
Importance of pharma sector to Ireland
Cowen also pointed to the importance of the pharmaceutical industry to Ireland’s economy, which he said “cannot be underestimated”.
“Ireland is home to eight out of the world’s Top 10 pharmaceutical companies and six of the Top 10 blockbuster drugs – drugs achieving sales of over US$1bn per annum – are manufactured here. Currently, there are approximately 20,000 people employed in the pharmaceutical sector in this country.”
The Taoiseach also said today’s MSD announcement followed on from “a number of positive economic signals in recent weeks, all of which point to the Irish economy returning to growth”.
“It is a further reason for confidence in the future of the economy,” he added.
Merck one of world’s largest pharma firms
Merck is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world following its merger with Schering-Plough. The company has had a presence in Ireland since 1961 and between them Merck and Schering-Plough have invested more than €1bn in Ireland over the past four decades.
Merck currently employs about 2,300 people in operations across the country in Wicklow, Carlow, Tipperary, Cork and Dublin.
Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com
