The Pfizer drug used by many millions of men to combat the effects of impotency is manufactured in the small village that has been nicknamed Viagra Falls. They made 45 tons of the stuff in 2018 —that’s a lot of growth!
In fact, so potent is the effect of the drug on the area that it’s thought vapors from the factory have turned the village’s air into something of an aphrodisiac. There's even been a feature film based upon that very premise.
Christine Davies, who works at the local bar, was in no doubt about the factory’s effect on the area, "I'm telling you, it's true! Let's just say a few of my friends have sampled the local men and they say they've never seen the like of it! Talk about staying power! Those fumes have pumped new life into our men, I can tell you. I hear what the wives and girlfriends have to say. They come in here on a Sunday with big smiles on their faces. One told me the other day: 'My old man is so frisky that I'm fair worn out.' And she wasn't complaining, I can tell you."
So perhaps Ringaskiddy could have a future in the honeymoon business too?
One local man, James Hartnett, told reporters that, “a man started work at Pfizer [the Viagra factory] and nine months later his wife gave birth to quadruplets. There’s babies everywhere.”
Another local, Charles Allen mused, “They’re grinding the tablets and the wind is coming from that direction. So there’s bound to be a certain amount in the air all the time.”
Residents have even gone so far as to link the increase in the town’s rabbit population to the arrival of the factory nearly twenty years ago.
But it was a rumor the drug company was keen to scotch, telling the Irish Echo that, “It’s made under the strictest supervision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Irish Environmental Protection Agency. There can’t be any kind of emissions.”
And Viagra isn’t the only drug Ireland exports: much of the world’s supply of Botox is made in the small town of Westport in County Mayo, right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
Westport has been dubbed the Botox Capital of the world and one local TD (member of Parliament) Michael Ring told the Irish Times, “It is unbelievable when you think of all the film stars and all the pop celebrities who use it, and it comes from a small town in the west of Ireland.”
Westport, Ireland - not only home to Allergan's world-class #Botox manufacturing facility but also a stunning place! pic.twitter.com/WRDtb9wW3k
— Dr. Shannon Humphrey (@HumphreyDerm) May 29, 2015
When the company expanded the factory in 2012 he admitted, “I was inundated with calls, but the turnover there is very low, because they are such good jobs.”
So if it’s your dream to help keep Hollywood in a plentiful supply of Botox, all the while living in one of Ireland’s most picturesque villages, it looks like you’ll have stiff competition!
* Originally published in Dec 2016, updated in Oct 2022.
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