Five firms to invest €53m in R&D

FIVE major multinationals are to spend a total of €53 million on new research and development (R&D) facilities in Ireland, enterprise minister Micheál Martin announced yesterday.

The package will include a €20 million investment by drug giant Pfizer at its Ringaskiddy base and plans by Genzyme to spend €6m on R&D at its Waterford plant, which manufactures tablets for dialysis patients.

Financial services heavyweight Citigroup will set up a new unit for developing new cash management and payments processes in Dublin's IFSC, at a cost of €10m, while pharmaceutical leader Bristol Myers Squibb will launch a new research programme in conjunction with Dublin City University and NUI Galway that is worth almost €10m.

The list is completed by a €7.5m programme planned by microchip specialist

Xilinx, which will set up its first-ever research lab outside the United States at Dublin's Citywest.

Mr Martin said the decisions to invest in Ireland represented "a major achievement" that made the Irish arms of each company significantly more important within their corporate structures.

The companies' track record in Ireland and their positive experiences here had made them comfortable with handing over heavy responsibility to locally-based staff, he said.

But other factors, such as a tax credit that allows companies to write off some of their R&D investment against their tax bill, a strong research skills base in our universities and a favourable position as an English-speaking Euro zone member, were also important in encouraging multinationals to choose Ireland for R&D activity, he added.

"The objective of attracting the most sophisticated and strategically important core corporate activities, such as R&D, is now being realised. The fact that five of the world's leading multi-national companies have chosen Ireland over global competition for their cutting-edge research activities is a serious achievement and shows our ability to compete vigorously and win these highly sought-after investments," said Mr Martin.

The projects announced yesterday will create around 50 jobs, most of which will be targeted at highly-qualified researchers with postgraduate or doctoral qualifications.

But IDA chief executive Sean Dorgan said the significance of the projects should be measured in terms of the quality of activity being attracted to Ireland, instead of the total number of jobs directly created.

Each of the companies will receive "worthwhile" financial support and other assistance from the state business development agency, he said.