JOHNSON & Johnson, the largest health-care company in the world, has confirmed it is to invest £31 million in a state-of-the-art plant at Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, where 300 new jobs will be created.
Announcing the investment, Mr Hugh Coveney, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, said the new facility would be Johnson & Johnson's high volume manufacturing operation for artificial replacement hip and knee joints for the world-wide market.
Mr Coveney said the new plant which will be built on a 34-acre site at the Ringaskiddy Industrial Estate, would give the company scope for future expansion, and added that construction would get underway by the middle of next year. It was anticipated, he added that the plant would be in production by the third quarter of 1998.
"The IDA's success in attracting a health care company of the calibre of Johnson & Johnson to Ringaskiddy is a major advance for that location in that it broadens the scope of developments to date at the site. Previously, Ringaskiddy has focused mainly on the pharmaceutical industry, and the new development is very much in line with the commitment given by IDA Ireland to the local community that new investments would be brought to Ringaskiddy," he said.
Mr Coveney said the latest Johnson & Johnson investment in Ireland would be the fourth such development by the company. "The impact of the new facility in Cork will be up to £22 million a year in the economy and is further evidence of the company's confidence in Ireland as a successful location from which to operate a world-wide business," he added.
Worldwide, Johnson & Johnson employs more than 88,000 people, and last year it achieved sales of almost £12 billion.
Mr Joseph A Cherry, the worldwide vice-president of Johnson & Johnson, said yesterday that the company already had a significant presence in Ireland and added that IDA Ireland had been instrumental in helping the corporation to decide upon Ringaskiddy as its new location.
He added: "Our impact on the local environment will be most evident in visual terms and we have challenged our design team with the task of preparing a visually-pleasing facility as well as one which meets our very exacting production requirements and local planning specifications."
Mr Cherry also said company representatives were planning to meet residents in the Ringaskiddy area to brief them about the new development and to discuss the entire project with them.
