EU approves €48m grant for J&J plant

THE IDA was cleared to give a €48.25 million grant to Johnson & Johnson’s new Cork plant, Centocor, by the European Commission yesterday.

The production plant, which is being built in Ringaskiddy, will employ 750 people and is an important addition to Ireland’s biopharmaceutical sector.

The decision announced by Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes had been held up for some time as the commission requested additional information from the Industrial Development Authority.

Sources described the case as “borderline” and that it just about qualified under current rules on State aid.

And no problems are anticipated with the proposed €820m Amgen facility at Carrigtwohill where the creation of 1,100 jobs by 2010 has been targeted.

The decision contrasts with Ms Kroes’ refusal last year to allow the IDA grant aid to Intel’s new chip making plant outside Dublin.

Her spokesman Jonathan Todd said: “Intel was very dominant in the market for the product they were producing in Dublin but Centocor is not in the same dominant position.”

Ms Kroes had argued that grant aiding Intel would upset the balance of fair competition between the EU’s member states.

The Government said such decisions could lead to Ireland and the EU losing such investment to Asia and other parts of the world.

The Dutch commissioner, announcing her decision in Brussels yesterday said: “I am happy to be able to authorise the aid for this very important project, which will benefit not only Ireland, but the European Union as a whole.”

She said the commission felt the aid would not give rise to undue distortion of competition within the single market and was compatible with the commission’s rules on regional aid to large investment projects.

Centocor Inc is a wholly owned subsidiary of the US health conglomerate, Johnson & Johnson. The new plant will manufacture biopharmaceutical active ingredients of final medicinal products to treat various human diseases.

Most of the world’s leading drugmakers have bases in Ireland, including J&J. In the past 18 months several of them, including Allergan, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genzyme, Pfizer, Schering-Plough and Wyeth have announced expansion plans.

Many of these are in the new biotech area that is rapidly taking over from traditional chemical-based medicines and using proteins, enzymes or antibodies using biotechnology developed in universities and laboratories.

About 25,000 people are employed in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector that generates about 45% of Ireland’s exports.