Construction Work To Start On New Shire Campus In Mid-2016

Construction work to expand Shire's global biotechnology manufacturing campus at Piercetown in Co Meath is to start in mid-2016.

The firm plans to invest US$400 million in Ireland over the next four years.

The site is expected to be operational by mid-2019.

The roles at the new campus will consist of highly skilled, full time jobs in the areas of R&D, operations, technical staff, engineering and construction.

Shire's Senior Vice President of Technical Operations, Tim Kelly, commented: "The expansion supports our manufacturing strategy to develop and provide innovative specialty medicines for patients. Ireland is a strategically important location for Shire, providing both excellence in life science R&D and manufacturing. We already have a strong team on the ground in Ireland and believe that it is the right location for us to build a new state of the art facility which will complement our existing manufacturing operations in the US."


Mr Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, said "Ireland is an attractive location for many industries, but for the life sciences and biotechnology sectors in particular. These are sectors in which we excel and we are very pleased that Shire is building on its existing presence here with the development of a new campus at Piercetown, County Meath. This investment by Shire demonstrates not only IDA's strategy of attracting biotechnology investment to Ireland but also our focus on supporting balanced regional economic development."

(CD)