Cowen urged to back Tralee’s 4,700-job pharma plan

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is due to meet the team behind a huge pharmaceutical project earmarked for Tralee in Government buildings tomorrow.

Promoters of the Global Pharmaceutical Centre of Excellence (GPCE) will make a strong case for necessary funding to get the project — ultimately reckoned to create around 4,700 jobs — off the ground in Kerry, in January.

The delegation will bring with them the support of thousands of people who believe the GPCE could be the light at the end of a dark tunnel for the people of Tralee and Co Kerry, where around 17,000 people are on the live register.

Thousands of people have signed a petition supporting the development. Business people and backers of the project have been collecting signatures, over the past week, at supermarkets, shopping malls and sporting events around Kerry.

More than 700 people signed the petition in just over an hour in Tralee, while 3,000 students at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, have also added their names.

“The county is behind the project and we need the Taoiseach to live up to his belief that research and development is the key to the country’s future growth,” said Kerry 4 GPCE spokesman Paul Stephenson.

“He must give Rory Doyle (chief executive-designate of GPCE) and his team a more than fair hearing when they meet in Dublin. There is no better Christmas present for a battered society than a jobs announcement.”

Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Minister Batt O’Keeffe has already met the promoters of the €4.7 billion project.

If it goes ahead the operation will offer the largest single employment placements on the island of Ireland and the largest research and development centre in the world. It would employ graduates in science, pharmaceuticals, engineering and IT alongside nurses, doctors, secretarial and administrative staff.