December 2008: Abbott announced as Lead Member of Business in the Community Ireland

Abbott have recently joined Business in the Community Ireland as a lead member. They are the 56th company to join the network. Abbott are a global, broad-based health care company devoted to discovering new medicines, new technologies and new ways to manage health. Abbott came to Ireland in 1946 with its commercial operation. In 1974, Abbott Ireland established two manufacturing facilities and since then have added a further four manufacturing facilities employing approximately 3,400 staff, resulting in Abbott Ireland being one of the largest overseas activities of Abbott Laboratories. Since the beginning of 2008, 10 leading companies have joined the Business in the Community Ireland network. 56 of Ireland's most progressive companies are now in membership, representing over 300,000 employees. This year, the following 10 companies came on board: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd Cara Partners Marsh Dell Shell E&P (Ireland) Ltd Deloitte ACCBank Davis Langdon PKS ITC Group Abbott We would like to welcome the 10 new member companies to our network and we look forward to working together in the New Year! Being a member of Business in the Community Ireland is a tangible way of showing an organisation's commitment to being a good corporate citizen working in partnership for a better Ireland. Business in the Community Ireland has the unique expertise to train and develop capacity on Corporate Responsibility (CR) within your organisation; to improve your company's reputation, competitiveness and profitability through communicating your social, environmental, community management impacts. If you are interested in becoming a member of Business in the Community Ireland, please contact Sarah Harte at 01 874 7232 or or email sharte@bitc.ie.