Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

Yesterday, as the Minister said, 177 jobs were lost at Pfizer in Cork. This is a significant blow to the employees and also to the Cork area and should act as a wake up call to the Government regarding the patents cliff, on the edge of which we are perched. A large proportion of the State's GDP comprises products that are coming off patent and this will threaten jobs, growth and our GDP and debt to GDP ratio. The Minister mentioned that five of the top 12 selling medicines in the world are produced in Ireland but it is estimated that more than €100 billion worth of sales of drugs will come off patent before 2015. Chemicals and medicines comprise 60% of merchandise exports. How many jobs could be lost if this were to come to pass? I commend the work done in bringing FDI to the State, especially in this sector. What level of patent replacement is being undertaken?

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