25 jobs to be lost at Roche

Twenty-five jobs are to go at the Roche Ireland plant in Clarecastle, with the company hoping to secure the job losses through a voluntary redundancy package.

Staff were informed of the impending redundancies at a meeting on Wednesday morning and the lay-offs are attributed to the company’s €2.7 billion global restructuring programme.
Roche Ireland, which employs 240 people at its pharmaceutical production site in Clarecastle, was established in 1974 as Syntex Ireland Limited. In the early 1990s, the plant became part of the Roche Group.
“We deeply regret that we have had to propose these redundancies,” Dr Sven Hauptmann, managing director at the Roche Ireland told The Clare Champion.
“We have a long-standing relationship with the community in Clarecastle and beyond and we know that this announcement will impact on our colleagues, their families and the wider community.
“In the future, our efforts to increase operational efficiency will strengthen our ability to deliver on our strategy of bringing important medicines to patients and therefore enhance our role as a valuable part of Roche,” he added.
The restructuring programme is aimed at adapting cost structures to an increasingly challenging market environment and achieving significant efficiency and productivity gains.  Implementation plans include reducing the workforce by 4,800 positions worldwide, or 6% of the group’s current work force, over the next two years.
TD Joe Carey has described the job losses as an “economic body blow for the workers and their families”.
He said that while any job losses are regrettable, he hoped the impact of the global restructuring on the Clarecastle plant would be kept to a minimum.
“I believe Roche in Clarecastle has a solid future through product development and manufacturing. There have been setbacks like this in the past and I would hope that the company could grow again in the future.
“There is significant development and investment in the plant locally and I would be confident that the long-term viability of the Clarecastle Roche plant is secure into the future,” he said.
His Dáil colleague Pat Breen expressed the hope that the global restructuring plan announced by Roche Ireland AG will “ultimately secure the viability of the Clarecastle facility”.
“I have been aware for some time that Roche has been experiencing difficulties, especially following a number of drug development setbacks. Every support possible from both Government and State agencies must now be made available immediately to Roche Ireland in Clarecastle to assist the company in their efforts to secure the remaining jobs and the long-term viability of the plant,” he added.