Global pharmaceutical firm MSD’s announcement that it is to close its Swords plant with the potential loss of 570 jobs comes less than nine months after it confirmed 280 people were to be let go with the closure of its Wicklow facility.

It may seem a long way from West Cork to the giddy heights of corporate HQ in New Jersey, but Fergal O’Dowd doesn’t see it that way.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) is to axe 90 jobs at its Co Cork plant — almost a fifth of its workforce — over the next six months.

Global healthcare company Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) is to cut its workforce by up to 90 over the next six months.