Pharmaceuticals 'increasingly important' economy sector says Ahern

The Minister for Trade and Commerce has said that the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector has become increasingly important to the Irish economy.

Addressing delegates attending the 2005 Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Workshop Minister Michael Ahern said: "The Pharma Sector is a major direct contributor to the Irish economy. The sector was the largest contributor of corporation tax in 2003, at 1.1 billion euro.

"The high value added and knowledge intensive nature of the industry is also reflected in the level of exports in the sector which now account for around 40% of total manufacturing exports from Ireland. The Sector employs almost 17,000 highly skilled people directly and provides very high quality employment – approximately 50% of those employed directly in the Sector are third level graduates. Indirect employment, particularly in the construction industry is also very significant. In the Wyeth Biopharma project alone, 2,500 people from the building sector were employed at its peak. The Pharma industry has a major benefit for engineering / project design companies."

Mr Ahern said that many of the projects attracted to Ireland were "becoming strategic global supply plants." He said Ireland had attracted 13 of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies in the world and 25 of the top 50. Furthermore he said that almost all of these companies had been involved in continuing re-investment.

The Minister said: "The sector’s exports have grown by 13 million euro annually over 1999-2004 and are projected to grow annually by a similar amount over 2005/07. In addition, there are dozens of indigenous companies employing several hundred people who sell into the pharma market as one of several vertical markets, as well as a couple of hundred people who are self-employed or involved in pharma distribution."

Highlighting the quality and skills of the workforce, the Minister said that to continue to compete successfully, companies needed "to develop their Research and Development capabilities and create strong intellectual property in their core business."

He said that the Government was committed to a five-fold increase in investment in research via the current National Development Plan, including significant strategic investment through both Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions as well as through the Industrial Development Agencies.

"At the end of August 2005, SFI had awarded over €464 million to more than 600 projects to support in excess of 1,000 outstanding researchers and their teams in creating the knowledge and driving the discoveries to underpin future competitiveness in key industries such as bio and pharmaceuticals.

Such public and enterprise sector commitment is necessary if we are to meet the challenges and targets set out in the National R&D Action Plan which calls for R&D investment to rise to 2.5% of GNP by 2010. Becoming a truly knowledge and innovation driven society requires a holistic approach," said the Minister.

(SP)