Council demands Amgen answers

FURIOUS Cork county councillors have demanded that Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin and his junior Michael Ahern come to County Hall and explain what went wrong with the €1 billion Amgen project and, equally importantly, when exactly they knew it was axed.

There were angry scenes at the council’s headquarters as opposition councillors turned on their Fianna Fáil colleagues, with several claiming that the party had used Amgen as an election stunt.

Standing orders were suspended for the debate and the first salvos were launched by Cllr John Mulvihill (Lab).

“People were totally misled. Even Deputy (Ned) O’Keeffe said that. There was total silence from the junior minister, Michael Ahern. Fair play to Ned O’Keeffe, he stood up and was counted,” Mr Mulvihill said.

FG’s Cllr Michael Hegarty was the first to demand that the two ministers address the council. He received majority support from colleagues to write to them.

Cllr Alan Coleman, the FF leader in the council, defended the Government, pointing out that last April a delegation led by the then Mayor of County Cork, Cllr John O’Shea, met senior Amgen officials who indicated the project was going ahead.

“This is a setback, there’s no doubt about it, but we shouldn’t overreact,” Mr Coleman said.

Cllr Martin Hallinan (SF) said: “Even the dogs in the street knew the thing wasn’t going through. It was an election gimmick.”

County manager Martin Riordan said Amgen officials had guaranteed him €6 million owed to the council for infrastructural work on the site would be paid back to the local authority so the taxpayer won’t be left footing the bill.