Portlaoise 'in a growth phase' as land deal signed for international pharma company

Portlaoise is bucking the national trend and still "in a growth phase" attracting big business to set up in the county, the Laois County Council CEO has said.

An international pharma company is expanding to Portlaoise, with the potential for job creation.

BNL Sciences, part of the international company Caldic, supplies chemicals to the biopharma market.

It is now going to build a new plant in Laois County Council's self developed J17 National Enterprise Park in Portlaoise.

Councillors approved the sale on Monday April 28 at their monthly meeting.

The 3.71 hectare serviced site will be sold for €1.4million plus VAT.

The company had pulled out of an agreement to buy the site in 2022 for nearly €1million, and are now paying more for it, in line with rising market values.

Laois County Council CEO Michael Rainey said it shows Laois is in a “growth phase”

“In a time when there is so much economic uncertainty, and many counties are trying to hold on to the jobs they have, we’re still in a growth phase.

“We still have companies interested in coming here and investing in this county which is hugely valuable. It is not just about selling the site, it’s also about the construction period, it’s the jobs that come after that, it’s the rates paid, it’s all positive news for the county,” he said.

He said the council has other serviced lands for sale, and there are private serviced sites on the market too.

“It’s about economic growth and development of the county. We are open for business. We have a business support unit actively engaged with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. There’s lots of sites, lots of ambition, lots of energy,” the Laois CEO said.

Cllr James Kelly proposed the land deal, seconded by Cllr Paddy Buggy.

“We must remember the amount of jobs created in J17 over the last number of years and the income to the council in rates,” Cllr Kelly said.

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald noted “very damning reports” nationally about the IDA and government’s job creation figures.

“Only for Laois doing what it did for itself, we are doing everything in our power, the council showed great foresight when they bought this land,” she said.

J17 National Enterprise Park is now nearly full, with other big companies snapping up the serviced sites next to the M7 Motorway, to build vast factories.

They include Alpha Drives, Kirby Engineering and Laprino Cheese.

Most recently, Midland Steel expanded their Mountmellick plant to the park, creating up to 70 jobs. The company has just partnered up with the biggest steel company in the USA. 

BNL Sciences describe their role as providing "custom-made solutions and high purity specialty chemicals, excipients and biological raw materials to the (bio)pharmaceutical, medical devices and material markets".

Laois County Council bought the land to develop the J17 park from Supermac's founder Pat McDonagh, to create large numbers of homegrown Laois jobs, following the failure of the IDA to do so in the county.

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It followed a survey that found some 10,000 workers were leaving the county daily for their jobs, many having to commute to Dublin. 

Speaking at the opening of Midland Steel's plant, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said the IDA would do better to attract high quality jobs to Laois.

BNL Sciences has been asked for a comment on their plans.