Abstract

This paper examines the spatial pattern of the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland and in particular the drivers accounting for spatial concentration in the industry.1 Spatial concentration indexes indicate a particularly high level of spatial concentration in one of the industry’s sub-sectors, namely, drug substance production. This high level of concentration has been attributed to the operation of agglomeration advantages, notably localisation economies. Based on interview data and secondary sources, a detailed investigation of the spatial dynamics and location factors involved suggests that these advantages have played, at most, a relatively limited role and that the concentration of the industry in and near the two particular urban centres in question has largely been driven by government intervention, notably environmental and regional planning policy and the related spatially selective provision of well-serviced industrial sites and infrastructure.