Over 600 new Irish jobs as healthcare giant GE splashes out €150m on Cork campus

ALMOST 700 NEW Irish positions are to be created as three healthcare companies, US firms GE and Mallinckrodt alongside Irish-firm Oneview, all made major job announcements.

GE, which provides services in a variety of areas including disease research and drug discovery, is to invest €150 million in a new biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus near Cork harbour.

The development will feature four factories at the IDA’s site in Loughbeg, Ringaskiddy, Cork.

GE BioPark Cork, subject to contract and planning approvals, will feature Europe’s first KUBio – prefabricated, off-the-shelf bio-manufacturing facilities, owned and run by GE’s biopharma customers.

The BioPark is expected to be home to more than 500 new jobs when fully operational – 400 with biopharma companies and a further 100 employed directly by GE. The construction phase, subject to planning approvals, is expected to begin by mid- 2017 and create up to 800 construction jobs.

Demand

GE said that patient demand for innovative medicines is driving rapid global growth of the biopharmaceutical industry, resulting in significant need for more production capacity.

GE Healthcare is a multinational employing 46,000 people worldwide, 600 of them in Cork.

It already has a global manufacturing site at Carrigtwohill in East Cork, which saw a €40 million investment in the plant – but in August the company told local media in Cork they had to withdraw several dozen job offers, following an industrial relations dispute at the plant.

GE’s new facilities in Cork  will feature Europe’s eco-friendly prefab ‘KUBio’ facility, which allows CO2 emissions to be reduced by 75%, and water and energy use by around 80%.

It is expected that the KUBio units will be between 25-50% more cost-effective to build than traditional facilities. Build time can be shortened to 18 months from the usual three years.

Oneview

Meanwhile, Irish healthcare company Oneview announced that during the course of 2016 it will employ 50 new staff in Dublin and a further 50 across the company’s international offices.

The company, which is listed on the Australian stock market, makes software that helps to link up services such as MRIs or test results across a hospital, allowing medical staff to access it quicker and easier.

The announcement comes following the signing of multiple contracts with US hospital groups.

The company also recently signed a contract with Legacy Lifestyles Senior Housing, which develops senior housing communities in North America, to deploy Oneview’s software in their upcoming US facilities.

All Oneview’s research development activities will remain domiciled in Blackrock, Dublin. By the end of 2017 the Oneview platform will be in at least 20 healthcare facilities worldwide including six of the fifteen top ranked hospitals in the US.

Mallinckrodt

Finally, US specialty pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt today officially opened its new offices in College Business and Technology Park in Blanchardstown, Dublin, and announced the creation of a new €10 million state-of-the-art research and development facility at the location.

The company makes and distributes products used in the treatment of pain and related conditions.

The R&D facility will house global device engineering for the company and bring 40 more new jobs to the site, bringing the overall total of new positions there to 120 by 2017. The project is supported by the IDA.

With its May 2015 announcement and this commitment, Mallinckrodt’s total investment in the site has grown to €85 million.

All announcements were supported by the Department of Jobs.