THE MAJORITY of jobs at two medical diagnostics plants in Clare and Galway are safe, and both facilities will be kept open in the short term at least, workers were told yesterday.
The 400-plus staff at the Beckman Coulter plants at Lismeahan, Co Clare, and Mervue in Galway city were informed that 30 people are to be made redundant, fewer than had been feared.
There had been speculation that one of the plants would close or that the two would be merged. Management told staff yesterday, however, that they would keep both sites open “in the short term” at least.
Staff have been told both plants will be run by a core management team, and that the finance and human resource departments will be consolidated. As a result, 30 jobs are expected to be lost, mainly in these areas.
Beckman Coulter has operated from Mervue Business Park in Galway since 1972 and employs about 200 people. In 2009, in a deal worth $800 million (€630 million), Beckman bought the former Olympus Diagnostics plant at Lismeahan near O’Callaghan’s Mills in Co Clare, where another 200 are employed.