Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise yesterday's disturbing and upsetting announcement of the loss of 785 jobs at Pfizer Ireland. Behind that figure are individuals and their families who are devastated by this announcement. It is a day the employees hoped would never come. A commitment must be given that something will be done to ensure replacement jobs are found in the relevant areas. I am pleased the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is in the Chamber to respond to this matter.

Yesterday's announcement did not come out of the blue for Pfizer employees despite their hope that their jobs would not be affected. I am particularly concerned by the impact on the Cork area of the loss of approximately 300 jobs between the two facilities there. At the Loughbeg drug product plant, 225 jobs will be lost by the end of 2012, only 18 months away. The Loughbeg facility produces the drug LIPITOR which, as has been known for some time, will go off patent next year. I questioned the Minister's predecessor on many occasions about this and about recent changes at Pfizer particularly following its takeover of Wyeth in January 2009. In addition, it has been repeatedly pointed out, including by Pfizer Ireland itself, that it is expensive to do business in this country and that competitiveness continues to be an issue for companies here. The concerns raised by Mr. Paul Duffy, head of manufacturing at Pfizer and president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, in the presence of the Taoiseach, regarding competitiveness and the cost of doing business here were raised yesterday in the House.

While wage costs have fallen in some sectors, energy costs in Ireland are among the highest in Europe. Local authority charges and waste and water charges also contribute to the high costs of doing business here for companies such as Pfizer. When company boards meet in New York to review their worldwide operations they find that Ireland is an expensive country in which to operate. We are competing against countries such as Singapore, India and other locations in which Pfizer has operations.

The other Cork plant mentioned yesterday is a biotechnology facility employing 75 people which opened in 2009 following investment of €195 million. The jobs affected involve high level research on behalf of Pfizer's global manufacturing operations. The facility was hailed as an important investment at the time and a signal of the company's commitment to Ireland. I believe Pfizer remains committed to Ireland as it continues to employ 5,000 people here.

I ask the Minister to address the future of pharmaceuticals on this island. The pharmaceutical sector is experiencing difficulties worldwide getting products to market and many products are due to come off patent. What will this mean for Ireland?

The IDA recently launched its Horizon 2020 strategy. Deputies have received only a Powerpoint presentation on the strategy and do not have much information on where precisely the anticipated 62,000 new jobs will be generated. The strategy refers to regional economic development, emerging growth markets, greenfield investments, research, development and innovation. The IDA estimates that Ireland will benefit from 640 investments. What will be the nature of these investments? Will they replace the jobs being lost in Cork?

Pfizer is confident it will be able to sell the plants it will vacate in Cork and Dún Laoghaire. I ask the Minister to give a commitment that the IDA will work with the company to ensure potential buyers are identified and alternative jobs are found for the areas in which jobs will be lost. Given the concerns about the future of the pharmaceutical industry on this island, I ask the Minister to provide some reassurance.

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