Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
The Roche Ireland plant in Clarecastle Google Maps
Google Maps
Updated at 9.30am
THE MANAGING DIRECTOR of Roche Ireland has said he was given no advance notice of the pharma giant’s decision to close its facility in Clarecastle in Co Clare.
The company announced yesterday that it plans to exit the site, where it has been in operation since 1974.
Gerry Cahill, Roche’s Ireland boss, has said management are “committed” to working with jobs minister Richard Bruton and the IDA to seek a buyer for the site.
No notice
Speaking on Morning Ireland today, he revealed he had not been given notice of the planned closure, which leaves 240 jobs in the balance.
“Nobody from this site was involved in the decision making process,” Cahill said, noting several times that the decision was made on a corporate level.
Roche announced its plan yesterday to exit sites in South Carolina, Spain, and Italy in addition to the Clarecastle plant. The company said it would be restructuring its manufacturing process for small molecules*.
“A new generation of specialised medicines based on small molecules requires novel manufacturing technologies and will be produced in lower volumes than traditional medicines,” a statement said.
The company, which employs 88,500 people worldwide, is investing in a dedicated facility in Switzerland “to support future technology requirements”.
In his interview this morning, Cahill said news of the planned closure had been a shock for workers and for the wider community, adding that Roche would reach out to other pharma companies and contract manufacturers to seek a buyer for the plant.
The closure process would take three to four years, he said. If no buyer can be found, the first redundancies will happen next year.
Cahill said management at Clarecastle met with local Siptu reps yesterday, and plan to meet with area representatives in the coming days.
“The decision is final,” he said, reiterating that it was a corporate decision with no local involvement.
“The intent of us here is to find a buyer.”
Reaction
Fine Gael TD for Clarecastle Joe Carey said yesterday that “every effort” will be made to support the Roche workers.
“My thoughts are very much with the workers of Roche and their families at this difficult and uncertain time,” he said.
I know many of the workforce personally as well as their extended families.
Clare Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley meanwhile described the news as “a devastating bolt out of the blue”.
“The loss of these jobs would have an enormous impact on the employees themselves as well as the local community and the economy in the Midwest,” he said.
The immediate shock for the workers will quickly turn to concern for their future livelihoods and the Government needs to do everything it can to respond quickly and comprehensively to this announcement.
*What are ‘small molecules’? More here. Additional reporting Daragh Brophy.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Who cares the boom is back people now get on board the gravy train with biscuit wheels. So what if my house is still worth fork all an my wages are shit The boom is back
The government and the IDA need to support more regional development and investment. Investment and development centred in Dublin, Cork and Limerick is not going to create an equal recovery.
It is deeply sad to see a company that has provided work for a number generations close and we can only hope that something will soon emerge to provide employment in the area for those who are losing their jobs.
Dublin is not Ireland. Dublin is a separate economy. 40 years of Govt mismanagement created a monster Dublin. Result overheated economy/massive rents. Our Govt cannot plan. Only 2 cities in NL have just over 1/2 million people (r’dam and a’dam). But…they have maybe 20 cities around country with 400-500k. That’s planning.
short answer is yes. Holland is all Europe’s hub. nothing comes in or out of Europe without Holland being involved. If you have an iPhone/ipad it was delivered to you through Holland. even when you bought a dell computer from Dell in limerick prior to it closing it was made in Ireland shipped out of Ireland to a hub & then shipped back to athlete. Holland is one of the most successful countries in Europe thanks to the EU.
NL may not have european HQs of MS, Apple and the other giant US corporations, but with 16 m people in an area no bigger than size of Munster, sure it’s like one big spread-out booming city.
NL, given its geographical position, with its seafaring tradition and being a former top colonial power, has achieved
a level of population growth Ireland can only dream about!
With 500,000 of our finest helping to grow other economies around the world since 2007, little is about to change on that front.
Anyone remember that old oft expressed quip: if Holland had Ireland it would feed the world; and if Ireland had Holland all would drown!
Something must be done on the long-range planning front to grow the economy and population and keep the people employed here.
I’d say the continued migration of culchies to Dublin over many decades has resulted in the city being too large & populous for a small country to be able to support.
The Dutch are lucky that almost all of their (albeit small) country consists of flat habitable and arable land.
Ireland on the other hand, consists mainly of hills, mountains, and boglands, with some a smaller % of land suitable for agriculture and modest areas sutibable for larger-sclae habitation around the coastline – hence the reason we have a low population density and have been unable to grow out population like the rest of Europe in the past.
The government were falling over each other takin g credit for Apple and indeed yesterday now, even Joan he moan managed to take credit for Apple in leaders questions this morning, they’re all very quite now, they make me sick
Oh grow up. We live in an open market economy where private enterprise creates jobs, not the government, no business lasts forever, a business is only a vehicle for making profit after all, they don’t exist to provide employment, you may be amazed to learn.
Government “taking credit”, that’s entirely your own take on the matter, what exactly do the government have to do with it? Why not be honest about your convictions here BERTIE, would you prefer if there was no private enterprise at all and the government just provided us all with jobs for life? Seeing as you expect them to do everything else for you. /i think some places tried that in the past, not sure how it worked out, I’ll have to look that one up…
Apple would also take a long time to move, they are investing in infrastructure, and in people. In a company that needs brain power and business savvy, moving out of a western country to a lower cost location comes at a knowledge price…
So that the trolls come out in force to mock the unfortunate families who now face a Christmas without the security of an honest income. These decision was hardly made overnight ,surely the IDA /government had an idea this was on the cards. Hopefully a replacement development will be brought into the clare region.
At least AlanH -AFC understands how business works with well though out comments compared to most of the ignorant clowns on here…change the f’in tune..
I work in a big company, I know how these decisions get made. Without a huge financial incentive to stay, government cannot impact these decisions. They can only manage he fallout and continue to create opportunities for these people.
It will end up like Tipperary town if they don’t act now , we have nothing here since Atari, Coca Cola , Tambrand , Pall and Continental Enterprises left. Last week Super Value closed with the loss of 20 jobs now over 30 business closed on the Main Street alone.
“Fine Gael TD for Clarecastle Joe Carey said yesterday that “every effort” will be made to support the Roche workers.” – …and then he and his party cut their benefits and hit them all with new taxes and water charges. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
German election: Huge turnout, young voters turn left and former Soviet east backs the far right
33 mins ago
1.9k
23
your stories
Your stories: Tell us your experiences of accessing services for children with additional needs
55 mins ago
627
german election
Christian Democrats come first in German election as far-right claim second place spot
Eoghan Dalton
Updated
20 hrs ago
31.8k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say