Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for the opportunity to raise this matter. Yesterday morning 150 staff from Pfizer's Newbridge plant were called in by management to be told that there would be 150 redundancies. The unions have expressed concern about the scale of the proposed redundancy and the shortness of the notice, and I agree with them on that. I understand a meeting is to take place tomorrow between management and the unions in an effort to save some of those jobs. I ask the Minister of State if any State agency has made contact with the company in advance of that meeting.

The Minister of State will be aware that these proposed redundancies are coming on the back of another redundancy scheme that started in 2010 and has just finished. It involved 275 people being made redundant. He will also be aware of the fact that when this new redundancy round takes place, if the 150 target is met, it will mean that a company that was employing 1,500 people two years ago will now be employing just over 500.

As Members will know, Pfizer is employing, very gainfully, more than 3,200 people in this country. It recently made 177 people redundant in its plants in Ringaskiddy and Little Island in Cork. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, expressed confidence that this does not reflect any wider problem within the pharmaceutical industry. Nevertheless, management gives as its reason for this particular round of redundancies the fact that the drug Lipitor is coming off patent. Can the Minister of State advise on what exactly the Minister, Deputy Varadkar's optimism is based? Can he give us an assurance that we are not going to see a constant drip drip of fallout in the pharmaceutical industry as a result of the so-called patent cliff?

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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This is becoming a bit of a habit. Two weeks ago I unfortunately tabled a Topical Issue to deal with hundreds of job losses in the aircraft aviation maintenance sector and now 1,000 jobs in the pharmaceutical sector are on the line. Some 570 of those jobs are in Swords in my constituency. I know that plant well. It is an operation that has been in existence for well over ten years. It provides decent employment. If one was to read its website today one would think matters are great. It lauds the fact of recent investment in the plant, how the site was selected to manufacture a range of new products which were due to be launched in the next few years. It also lauds the fact that it has made a lot of recent investment in the accommodation in that area.

The announcement of the loss of 570 jobs in Swords in MSD Pharmaceuticals comes just after the announcement of the loss of 280 jobs by the same company in its plant in Wicklow that produces one of the active ingredients of its products. In essence, the second biggest pharmaceutical company in the world is axing its workforce in Ireland by one third. It claims that it has 9,000 indirect jobs based on these jobs, therefore, presumably we can say that another 3,000 jobs are also on the line. That is an almighty blow which undermines much of the great talk from the Government.

I have a few specific questions for the Minister of State. When the announcements were made about job losses in MSD, the IDA chief executive was unfortunate enough to say that we should not worry about this, that the organisation has a great track record in finding alternative buyers. He said it has facilitated the purchase of the site of MSD from global pharma companies such as Pfizer and Wyeth. Then a few days later Pfizer announced its job losses. Can the Minister of State tell us how many supports and grants have been given by the IDA to these industries? Are there problems in the pension funds in that plant? What meetings arranged by the IDA or other Government organisations have taken place with the employer and the unions? Have the Minister or his agencies given any attention to the idea of the plant continuing to operate as a going concern?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, who is out of the country on Government business.

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue and share their concern about the 570 jobs lost at the Merck Sharp and Dohme, MSD, site at Swords and the 150 jobs lost at the Pfizer site in Newbridge, County Kildare. I express my sympathy on the loss of the jobs and the impact on individuals and their families. Pfizer, like so many companies competing internationally, undertook a review of its operations with a view to reducing costs to ensure the future viability of the plant. This has resulted in 150 jobs losses in Newbridge. The global pharmaceutical industry is experiencing a number of challenges owing to patent expiry and over-capacity within manufacturing and, in this context, Pfizer is no exception. Greater efficiencies and competitiveness are continually being sought across all Pfizer sites in order to compete on the changing landscape. Pfizer is a leading pharmaceutical employer, with 3,200 employees across seven operations in Ireland. The company's capital investment in Ireland since its inception exceeds $7 billion. Pfizer has a key manufacturing presence here in active pharmaceutical ingredients, solid dose pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals. It also has shared services and commercial operations here. The Irish operations manufacture some of its best selling medicines for arthritis, infectious disease, high cholesterol and cancer.

Pfizer has indicated that its other operations in Ireland will not be affected by the decision. In the past two years the company has made two significant investments in Ireland, most recently of €130 million in the Clondalkin and Ringaskiddy sites. Over 600 staff will still be employed in Newbridge. IDA Ireland is working closely with the company to ensure the best result for the site.

With regard to the MSD site at Swords, the company is a valued pharmaceutical investor in Ireland. While it announced some time ago the closure of the Rathdrum plant by 2015 - there is now this news about the site at Swords - it continues to employ over 1,100 staff in its other facilities in Ireland, located in Carlow, Cork, Tipperary and Leopardstown in Dublin. Significant investments have been made in these plants. Unfortunately, the company has had to undertake a review of its worldwide manufacturing capabilities to improve overall operational effectiveness. Following the merger of MSD with Schering Plough, the combined operation has excess manufacturing capacity worldwide. Accordingly, the company decided to close the Swords operation by 2017 and transfer production to other factories in the group located in countries abroad. The gradual shutdown of the plant gives a valuable space to seek a new operation for the factory. It is not anticipated that any staff will have to leave before mid-2014 at the earliest and that 130 jobs will be lost in the second half of 2014. The remaining positions will be phased out in the following three years up to the end of 2017.

The ultimate decision in both cases is made by the parent company on strictly commercial grounds and what is seen by the companies as being in the best interests of the group as a whole. We keep in close contact with key foreign companies about their operations in Ireland. My colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, met senior US-based management in MSD last month. The Government has strategies for job creation that are now starting to bear fruit. Unemployment levels have started to reduce and we have had a number of good wins for the country in recent months. While it is of little immediate consolation to the employees of Pfizer and MSD, the macroeconomic indicators show jobs growth. In terms of foreign direct investment, Ireland continues to be attractive because of our corporation tax and research and development tax rates. Over 1,000 multinational corporations have chosen Ireland and they employ 146,000 people directly.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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How many of the 150 redundancies in Pfizer will be compulsory? What training support will be given to those who find themselves out of a job as a result of these redundancies? The Government has been well aware of the potential difficulties associated with the patent cliff. Has it had discussions with pharmaceutical employers in the country about the possible implications in this regard and what has been the outcome of these discussions?

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I refer to the MSD operation. The Minister of State has made the point that the company continues to employ staff and has made a substantial investment in other locations. As a substantial investment was made relatively recently in Swords, it is no guarantee of protection. The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, met MSD management over one month ago. Was the issue discussed? Did management announce it would be shutting the Swords plant? What steps did the Minister take to cushion the blow? Workers only found out about it in the past ten days. Did the Minister ask why this was happening in Ireland? This is becoming a habit and multinational companies are gradually being chipped away. I appreciate that considerable numbers are employed in the multinational sector, on which we have a reliance for new jobs, but we are losing jobs that have been based here for decades. This has a lasting effect and the figures given by the Minister of State show that multinationals are small employers by comparison with small and medium-sized enterprises and the State and semi-State sectors. We must also look at these elements.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I cannot answer the questions about whether specific meetings have been held. Perhaps we might revert to the Deputies on that point.

I do not have the information sought in Deputy Willie O'Dea's first question, but we can find it for him. It is important to note that this is a vital sector in Ireland. We must acknowledge that if some of the entities are facing the patent cliff or are cost centres or profit centres, decisions are taken at corporate and headquarters level and that they have implications for sites such as those in Swords and Newbridge. These are private entities and we are at the mercy of decisions taken at corporate level. That does not mean, however, that we are not trying to anticipate global trends in the pharma sector. In the constituency of Deputy Willie O'Dea we announced the establishment of the SSPC research cluster. It brings the pharmaceutical industry together to look at future trends. While the State may be moving away from investment in research and drug discovery, not that we are taking the eye off the ball, and moving strategically towards manufacturing from the molecule to medicine, these investments, in which we partner the industry, will ensure the sustainability of the industry in this country. The industry has been located here for a long time, part of the reason for which is the current corporation tax rate. If we are to have a debate about trends in the sector, such companies are located here because of the corporation tax rate, the availability of human capital, access to research and development tax rates and research facilities such as the Niberg facility which opened over one year ago.

It is a bioprocessing facility.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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It is important to put this on the record of the House, because quite a number of questions have been asked of me.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent)
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It is now on the record and the time is up.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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The Minister of State has not answered any of the questions.