R and D investment boost for Covidien

One of the town's leading employers, Covidien, has announced a €25 million investment in six research and development projects at its plants in Ireland, one of which will be based at its Cornamaddy plant, a development it's hoped may yield new positions in the future. The healthcare company, which employs over 600 people in the town, said last week that six research and development projects will be undertaken in partnership with the company's facilities in Galway and Athlone involving the development of respiratory care products for ventilation and airway management. The IDA supported investment in conjunction with Covidien and the Irish government represents an investment of more than €25 million and will create an as yet undetermined number of research positions, the company confirmed in a statement. This latest boost for the Athlone plant comes just months after Covidien announced its intention to transfer the manufacturing line for one of its products to Thailand. It said it would be seeking up to 100 voluntary redundancies as a result sometime next year. Speaking of last week's investment announcement, Rhonda Luniak, Vice President, Communications Respiratory and Monitoring Solutions at Covidien explained to the Westmeath Independent that the projects in Athlone involve advanced research and development for the next generation of respiratory care products for patients. "While we expect that we will add positions in Athlone to support these projects over the next several years, the specific number is yet to be quantified," she said in the wake of the announcement. In addition, employment creation ultimately hinges on the success of the research and development work. Once an area of research is deemed viable, it takes often takes time to bring those products to market, she stressed pointing out that it was too early to estimate the impact on employment in Athlone as of yet. "We're pleased to announce the increased investment for advanced research and development in Ireland. Our facility in Athlone has a strong production operations track record, a vital R&D function, and continues to be an important part of Covidien," she said. Welcoming last week's positive announcement Jose E. Almeida, President and Chief Executive Officer of Covidien, maintained that Ireland's well-established record of fostering successful innovation was key to the decision to locate the research projects in this country. "These advanced research and development projects represent a significant future pipeline of innovative products for Covidien. They also may produce important data to further patient health and safety." "Innovation is and will remain a critical contributor to our Company's strong competitive advantage in the medical devices market, to Ireland's business growth and high-technology job creation, and to the world's economic recovery," Mr Almeida added. The announcement of the projects was made in Dublin with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, and with Head of Medical Technologies at IDA Ireland, Gus Jones. "This announcement is great news for Athlone and Galway, and represents evidence of Covidien's strong commitment to high-end activities in Ireland. It is a welcome endorsement of Ireland's record in research and development and represents a further boost for the vibrant medical devices sector here. With the right policies we can ensure that this announcement is replicated across the country in the coming years, and I am determined to make sure that happens," the Minister said. Mr Jones from the IDA commented that the projects being announced would reinforce Ireland's position as a global hub for medical technologies, employing the highest number of medical technologies personnel per capita in Europe. Two of the new research investment projects will be managed at the company's plants in Athlone and Galway. The other four projects will be conducted at independent facilities in Ireland on behalf of Covidien. They include projects with BlueBridge Technologies, the Biomedical Diagnostic Institute of Dublin City University and the NUI Galway.