Medical devices company Abbott is to cut 250 jobs. The company said the reductions were necessary to respond to the changing needs of the competitive environment.
Abbott employs 1,400 people at the site in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. It is understood that 200 of the jobs will be cut from permanent staff and up to 50 further contract workers won’t have their contracts renewed.
Abbott employs more than 3,200 people across 11 sites in Ireland.
It is understood that the Clonmel operation will continue to play a strategic role in the company and will be transitioned to focus on the manufacture of new vascular medical devices that will require a capital investment to incorporate new equipment.
In January, Abbott separated into two listed public companies and nearly 400 Irish staff in Sligo, Cork and Dublin began working for AbbVie, the newly established global research-based pharmaceutical company.
Abbott has had a presence in Ireland since 1946 and its first Irish manufacturing operation was established in Sligo in 1974. Early in 2012, Abbott invested €85m in the Sligo facility and this expansion plan will continue under the auspices of AbbVie, scheduled for completion in 2014 with 175 highly skilled jobs coming online by 2015.
