Friday week will see the last of employees leave the Avara pharmaceutical plant in Shannon after talks between the IDA and United Metals to find a buyer failed.

Up to 114 people were employed at Avara in the Shannon Industrial Estate when the High Court in July 2019 ordered that the company be wound down after it emerged that it was insolvent with losses to the tune of €9.5m and was unable to pay its workers.

The staggered basis of redundancies which followed prompted staff to set up their own company Eirchem Pharmaceuticals Services which took over the running of operations from Avara.

United Metals came on board as an investor in January of this year guaranteeing the short-term future of the site as Eirchem finished out commitments made for the production of pharmaceutical products for their clients.

Speaking in July, Deputy Cathal Crowe (FF) had expressed hope following confirmation that a Swiss company had entered into talks with the IDA about acquiring the facility. “It could be a lifeline for those jobs at the eleventh hour. I welcome this news and will do what I can from my end, at a political level, to ensure that something positive comes from this and that these upcoming job losses are averted,” he stated at the time.

21 workers lost their jobs at Eirchem in July with 50 more following suit in September. The final 20 employees will leave the plant on October 2nd after attempts to secure a buyer failed to materialise.