Joe Lynam

Now Merck Group, which is headquartered in Germany and not to be confused with the American company of the same name, says that it will be creating the world's first climate neutral manufacturing facility in Cork.

It comes as all international pharma giants are being pressured to move their plants to America to avoid tariffs.

Mark Dunphy is the Managing Director and Head of Cork Operations with Merck Life Sciences Ireland and is on the line.

Good morning, Mark.

Well, for me, it's really about motivating, inspiring people to get behind a common goal and to go after that at scale.

Mark, tell us more about Merck Group, which is one of the oldest companies in the world.

That's my own personal belief with all the different spins as to what it means for each one of us.

Absolutely.

The self-awareness, the emotional intelligence, the support, the way you help to grow people, the softer skills for sure.

And how many people do you employ in Ireland?

I think there's been a lot of focus on those skills in recent years and maybe a little, Joe, to the detriment of the harder skills like managing complex change and education.

and innovation.

And we're starting to see a little bit of that.

And just to clarify, there's no link with Merck, Sharp and Dome or MSD?

And there are some worrying signals.

I think it's important to say, if you look at the skills that we need today to get the job done, they've changed by about 30% over the last 10 years.

Now, you make tiny but very important filters for epidural injections.

And the research that I'm seeing says that they'll change by a further 60%.

My wife is certainly a fan.

over the coming 10 years.