The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
WITH jobs going in a number of companies in Clare, the county’s Mayor Cathal Crowe said the situation is unprecedented, at a special meeting of Clare County Council on Friday afternoon.
“The recent announcement of job losses in Clare has been quite unprecedented. The loss of more than 500 jobs in Molex, 240 jobs at Roche Clarecastle, potentially the loss of 114 jobs at Avara Pharmaceutical and the ongoing uncertainty at Moneypoint all has the potential to have a devastating impact on this county’s economy. There is also a knock-on effect, not yet known, for smaller businesses in the supply chain. We in Clare County Council must hold our counterparts in national government to account. On behalf of the workers and their families we must make a stand and demand the intervention and support of the government and other state agencies.”
He added, “Parallels can be drawn between what County Clare is experiencing now and what the people of Limerick endured in 2009 with the closure of Dell. In that very same year Waterford saw the closure of its world famous Waterford Crystal plant. Following both of these closures the government of the day moved quickly to establish taskforces to address the hemorrhaging of jobs. Now, we in Clare demand the same level of support.”
Mr Crowe, who will stand for Fianna Fáil in the next general election, added, “As Mayor of this county I recently wrote to the Minister for Finance, Pascal Donohue TD, formally asking that he would apply for European Globalisation Funding to help this region over the coming months. As a South Clare man I saw how, a decade ago, this fund helped neighbours and friends of mine who had been made redundant at Dell to retrain and re-enter the labour market. Today I am asking our county’s five Oireachtas members to throw their weight behind the proposal for European funding.
“Over the coming months there needs to be strong leadership, unity and purpose in Clare at this challenging time. There can be no room for individualism, bickering and playing blame games. Clare has colossal potential, some of it still untapped, for new industry and job creation. We have an international airport, we are perfectly positioned between two of Ireland’s cities, we have a motorway running through the spine of our county and we have an educated and skilled workforce.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
