Promised 1,300 jobs on hold after drugs giant shelves plans for facility

MORE than 1,300 new jobs promised for Longford two years ago are now unlikely to come on stream before 2007, if at all.

Business interests in the Midlands are sceptical about the future of a planned $100m investment in Longford following yesterday’s announcement by the US pharmaceutical supplies giant, Cardinal Health, that it has deferred its plans for a new manufacturing facility in the town until 2004 at the earliest.

“As far as many people are concerned, they will forget about Cardinal and concentrate on getting other much-needed projects for the area,” said Michael Fenelon of the Longford Business Action Group.

“We’ve been hearing about this facility for over two years but now it’s clear we’ve been told nothing but fairytales.”

It also emerged that the company has still not applied for planning permission on an 80-acre site in the town which was acquired by Longford Co Council.

Industry sources have confirmed that the vast majority of the 1,300 jobs will not be created until 2007 - seven years after they were originally announced - due to the phased development of the facility.

Local Fine Gael senator, James Bannon claimed Fianna Fáil and the PDs should apologise to the people of Longford for buying the election in the constituency with the promise of the 1,300 jobs from Cardinal Health. He accused both parties of cynically exploiting the town’s urgent need for new investment following the closure of many large industries in the county over the past decade.

In particular, Mr Bannon criticised the PD’s newly-elected TD in the constituency, Mae Sexton, who claimed much of the credit for getting Cardinal Health to locate in Longford in her pre-election literature.

“There is growing anxiety among Longford people at the Government’s failure to deliver for the region,” said Mr Bannon. He claimed yesterday’s announcement by the Ohio-based company represented a double blow for Longford as the area had not been considered by the IDA as a location for other foreign investments because of the scale of the Cardinal Health project.

However, both the IDA and Cardinal Health sought to reassure locals about their commitment to the area by stressing that the planned development was merely being delayed rather than abandoned.

“This decision has nothing to do with Ireland and everything to do with Cardinal Health. We still want to invest in Ireland. The only thing that has changed is the timetable,” said the company's US-based spokesperson, David Verbraska.

In a statement issued yesterday, Cardinal Health confirmed that it has deferred its proposed investment in

Ireland for approximately two years due to the company’s need to assimilate a number of its recent large acquisitions into its existing operations.

“This effort requires us to re-order certain priorities, including Longford, to maximise the benefits of these acquisitions,” said another company spokesperson.

It is understood that the IDA chief executive, Seán Dorgan and Longford Co Council have received commitments from Cardinal Health to fulfil its legal obligations over the purchase of the council's land for the planned facility.

Tánaiste Mary Harney said she was disappointed about the delay in the Cardinal Health project but remained confident that the company was committed to the expansion of its business interests in Ireland. Cardinal Health which has its headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, employs 49,000 people worldwide and had a reported turnover of over $40 billion last year.