One of the chief backers of the proposed Global Pharmaceutical Centre of Excellence (GPCE) planned for Tralee has been placed into liquidation.

CRUNCH talks are scheduled tonight between IDA Ireland and the backers of an unprecedented multi-billion euro pharmaceutical project who are threatening to abandon plans to set up in Kerry and instead move to the North.

ALMOST 300 jobs were announced yesterday as part of the first phase of a huge pharmaceutical enterprise planned for unemployment blackspot Tralee, Co Kerry.

Three international pharmaceutical organisations have announced almost 300 new jobs for Co Kerry, as part of a proposed Global Pharmaceutical Centre of Excellence in Tralee.

THE campaign to establish a major pharmaceutical centre in Tralee is being intensified and potential investors are due to visit the town between now and Christmas.

THE Department of Enterprise is awaiting “a more detailed submission” relating to a proposed “global pharmaceutical centre of excellence” which, it has been suggested, will create 4,800 jobs in Kerry.

A spokesperson for Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O Keeffe has confirmed that the Minister has met Pharmadel, one of the groups behind the proposed development of a Global Pharmaceutical Centre of Excellence in Tralee.