Jobs announcement and Mid-West action plan welcomed

There was a warm welcome in West Limerick this week for the announcement by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a leading biopharmaceutical company, that it will invest an additional €350 million in its Limerick Industrial Operations and Product Supply (IOPS) bioprocessing campus in Raheen Business Park, and will add another 200 jobs, bringing the total expected job creation in the Limerick area to 500 and total investment to €650 million by the end of 2017.
With this expansion, the Limerick IOPS campus will house the largest-scale bulk biologics production facility in Ireland.
Limerick City and County Council welcomed the announcement, Mayor Liam Galvin saying that Regeneron’s  announce-ment of 200 new jobs and overall investment “is representative of the confidence among investors in committing to their future operations in Limerick and the surrounding region.”
Jobs Minister Richard Bruton was also in Limerick this week, where he unveiled an action plan for the mid-west which, he said, was aimed at creating 23,000 jobs over the next five years. The minister’s plan envisages the expansion of agri-food exports by up to 85%, an increase of 25% in industry start-ups, a rise of up to 40% in IDA-promoted projects, and an increase in tourism revenue which would result in a 25% boost in employment. “The mid-west is a strong region with great potential, and the government is fully committed to continue to create the right environ-ment for jobs growth,” he said.