A MAJOR US multinational will soon begin hiring 250 people for a new health care operation in Tipperary, The Irish Times has learned.
Pall Corporation, which specialises in liquid and gas purification, will take over the former Tambrands factory in the town, where it will manufacture blood filters. It is expected to have around 100 people recruited by the end of this year, with the bulk of the remainder of the jobs coming on stream next year.
The multi-million pound investment is scheduled to be announced by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, and IDA Ireland on Friday, and will be a significant boost for the town.
Tambrands, which closed in November with the loss of 220 jobs, had been the town's largest employer for 20 years.
After the Tambrands closure, Mr Bruton set up an inter-agency group to find a new occupant for the plant. As a result, 70 people have already found alternative employment. IDA Ireland said it would actively market the Tambrands plant, and the trained workforce, overseas.
At the time, local TDs said the closure would prove a devastating blow to the economy of Tipperary, pointing out that Tambrands generated £5 million a year in wages and services for the town.
Pall, based in the town of East Hills in New York state, has arguably the broadest-based filtration and separation product line in the world. It is a vast conglomerate involved in healthcare, electronics, energy, chemicals, aerospace and defence.
It has manufacturing facilities in the US, Britain, Japan and Puerto Rico, as well as offices and laboratory services in over 20 countries. In all, the company employs around 8,000 people.
The firm's annual report for 1996 recorded total sales of $960 million (£585 million). It has already declared first quarter results for the 1997 financial year; net sales totalled $207 million, compared with $192 million for the same period the previous year, and profits were $29 million, compared with $26 million in the 1996 quarter.
The Tipperary operation twill require training of many staff and will centre on the manufacture of filters to separate different components of human blood, in particular the reduction of leukocytes, or white blood cells.
In a recent brochure, the fire claims that leukocytes are responsible for more than 90 per cent of all adverse reactions to blood transfusions, yet most patients in the United States still receive blood that contains donor leukocytes.
