Boost for ‘jobs blackspot’ as Microchem announces 100 posts
The news will come as a boon to the area, which has been described locally as an unemployment blackspot following job losses at Waterford Crystal, Glanbia and Century Homes in recent years.
The expansion is being made by independent research and test plant Microchem Laboratories, which employs more than 100 people in the town after being founded 22 years ago by Ciaran and Anita Geoghegan.
Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin is visiting the south-east today and the jobs announcement for Dungarvan is understood to be one of several employment increases to be confirmed for the region.
Microchem Laboratories has combined laboratory facilities of 2,500m sq, including suites of dedicated laboratories that perform services to the pharmaceutical, food and medical device industries.
In addition, it performs chemical and microbiological analysis on environmental samples for all sectors.
Employees in the technical side of the business are all third-level graduates and the company’s staff profile includes analysts, technical specialists, scientists and development chemists.
Microchem was bought by Pennsylvania-based Lancaster Laboratories Inc last August.
The company provides scientific and environmental analysis to the pharmaceutical, medical device, food, and chemical industries in Europe and Asia.
Lancaster Laboratories is part of the biopharma services division of Thermo Fisher Scientific, which has annual revenues of more than $9bn and employs 30,000 people.
News of the jobs boost for Dungarvan comes following a report by an Oireachtas sub-committee which said that the west Waterford area faced a challenging time in providing new employment after the recent industry setbacks.
The committee members, chaired by Deputy Willie Penrose, visited the region in January and met people in Dungarvan, Cappoquinn and Carrick-on-Suir.
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