Eli Lilly Limerick expansion plans include scope for further development 

The company's senior vice president said the site, where it will invest €400m, has "the potential for future expansions" 

The company announced on Friday morning that more than 800 jobs will be created through the building and then the operation of a new facility in Raheen Business Park. File photo: Larry Cummins

Eli Lilly chose Limerick for its latest development over other sites around the world, the pharmaceutical giant’s senior vice president has said.

Darin Moody has also hinted that once the site near Shannon Airport is completed after three years, it could potentially be expanded. Speaking to the Irish Examiner from his base in Indianapolis, USA, he said the company’s decision to invest €400m into Limerick “is the culmination of a global evaluation of potential manufacturing sites”.

The company announced on Friday morning that more than 800 jobs will be created through the building and then the operation of a new facility in Raheen Business Park. If it secures planning approval, the facility will need 500 people in the construction phase and employ 300 pharma workers when finished.

Planning is due to be submitted in the coming weeks. He said: “The site will bring with it the potential for future expansions, but no decisions have been made beyond this initial investment.”

Eli Lilly has been operating in Ireland since 1978 and currently has more than 2,500 employees at a manufacturing campus at Kinsale, a global business services centre at Little Island in Co. Cork, and a commercial team dispersed across the country.

The news of Eli Lilly’s expansion will be an extra boost in Limerick’s fortunes. Of the decision to invest, Mr Moody said: "The need for that site is really driven by the anticipated growth that we have for our existing product portfolio and also the strength of our new product pipeline.

"We're very optimistic about both and we are investing in additional manufacturing capacity in anticipation of additional demand. 

We conducted a global evaluation of potential manufacturing sites and we looked at dozens of factors that cover the spectrum of workforce availability.

He said this included the availability of potential employees with science and engineering and other technical backgrounds and the strength in access to the local and national university system. He also said these included the quality of infrastructure and "a whole range of factors around the economic climate".

"We execute a planning process for making capacity decisions," he said.

"We have a global footprint for manufacturing and we constantly evaluate the need for adding manufacturing capacity and then where we need to add that capacity. And so, our process takes all those things into account." 

He added: "We determined it was appropriate to invest in a new manufacturing site, again, driven by our expected growth of existing products, but also a very exciting, exciting line-up of new products that will potentially be launching in the next several years.

"That's what really drove the decision.

"But it really reflects our ongoing optimism about the growth prospects of the company."

The city’s €200m Opera Square development, which is well underway, is expected to create 3,000 jobs, and Edwards Lifesciences recently announced 250 jobs at its new Limerick plant over the next few years.