Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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173. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of IDA grant supports provided to vaccine drug product manufacturing fill finish facilities and vaccine drug substance manufacturing facilities supported by the State in each of the years 2011 to 2021; the cost to establish NIBRT and grants provided from 2010 to 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19118/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is a major global centre for Biopharmaceutical manufacture and supply. In 2019 Ireland was ranked the 5th largest exporter of Biopharmaceutical medicines globally with exports of €80 billion. There are 85 IDA supported companies in the sector in Ireland employing over 37,000 people.

Ireland has been a significant centre of chemistry based small molecule manufacturing since the 1970s. More recently Ireland has attracted significant projects in biologics manufacturing, in particular monoclonal antibodies, making Ireland a significant global manufacturing cluster for biologics. Cumulative investment in the sector over the last 5 years alone has exceeded €8 billion, with notable, major investments by Alexion, BMS, Merck MSD, Takeda Shire and Regeneron. Three of the 10 best-selling biologics and immunotherapy products worldwide are manufactured in Ireland. These are Keytruda (Merck), Opdivo (BMS) and Enbrel (Pfizer). Ireland’s Biopharma sector has a substantial economic impact and is a significant contributor to Ireland’s exports and accounts for a substantial amount of Ireland’s corporation tax. The biopharma sector’s average salary is €89,000 per annum.

Ireland’s Biopharmaceutical industry is primarily focused on complex small molecule and monoclonal antibody biologic products but there is some targeted vaccine production. The total network of 85 sites includes the following vaccine related operations;

- Two sites, which along-side significant biologics mandates, have targeted vaccine drug substance and /or fill finish mandates.

- One site where a vaccine facility is currently under construction, scheduled validation in 2022.

- Further two sites which exclusively manufacture vaccines for animals

NIBRT, established in 2011 with a funding package totalling €57.3m to cover the costs of set-up, including the construction and the initial running costs is funded by the IDA. NIBRT has played a critical role in providing the skilled workforce to match this rapid growth and in carrying out industry-relevant research projects. In 2019 NIBRT trained over 4,000 people, many of whom work around the country, particularly in Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon and Meath.

NIBRT has global recognition as a successful research organisation and as a centre of excellence for training and upskilling of staff in the biologics industry.It has been hugely impactful in influencing the establishment of the 20 biologics manufacturing sites now located around the country, which involved a combined capital investment in excess of €15bn, and who collectively employ in excess of 12,000 people directly with significant expenditure on Irish-sourced materials and services. NIBRT’s funding model aligns to and indeed exceeds international best practice for Research and Technology organisation (RTO) funding as IDA grants accounted for an average of 25% of total NIBRT costs over the last three years with industry funding accounting for 42% of total costs and competitive research funding 33% respectively. International best practice generally assumes a government subvention of 33% using the 1-1-1 funding model.

This year there is an allocation of €10.4m to support the expansion of NIBRT. The following table outlines grant payments for the period 2010 to 2019 inclusive for the vaccine related operations outlined earlier in the response. The grant amounts paid to companies are total payments. Some sites include both vaccine and other biologics production.