‘I am very, very concerned’: Locals fear for future after shock announcement of Nestlé factory closure

Considered the oldest town in Co Limerick, Askeaton’s ancient castle ruins points to the town’s rich history as the former home of the Kings of Munster.

Towering over the castle ruins for the past 49 years, the Wyeth baby formula manufacturing factory, owned by Swiss food giant Nestlé, has spread the wealth, paying royal wages, with the average employee earning six-figure salaries above €100,000.

However, locals now fear all that glitters will no longer be golden, with the bombshell news of Nestlé’s plans to close the factory, moving its production lines to China and Switzerland.

The shock announcement has put the future of its 542-strong workforce in peril.

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Big salaries attract big mortgages, and big bank loans, local sources told The Irish Times.

Since the factory opened in 1974, Askeaton has been the town that Wyeth built. The company’s gold-standard product, produced out of Co Limerick, has fed babies across the world and its wages have helped sustain economic growth across Munster.

Askeaton mother Carmel Ryan knows better than most the value of the factory; her husband, Michael, worked there from 1976 until his retirement in 2009.

“We put four kids through college because of Wyeth. It is a place that has given people a job for life,” Ms Ryan said.

After their daughter Emma (39) was born prematurely with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, Wyeth stepped in, helping finance family trips to Budapest, where Emma received vital treatment to give her the best outcome to her life-limiting condition.

“Wyeth spearheaded the fundraising camping to get her there, it was a big thing and it did her enormous good. She received intensive physiotherapy over four visits to Budapest, staying a month at a time,” said Ms Ryan.

“It has made a huge difference to her life. I could go on forever about the number of people Wyeth has helped.”

The company stepped in again when Carmel and Michael lost their 21-year-old son Mark in a road traffic crash in 2007.

“In situations like that they offer counselling, they were very good to us, I suppose ... they were human, and there was never pressure put on my husband to go back to work until he was ready, they were just phenomenal, really.”

Emma Ryan, who is wheelchair-bound, has made enormous strides in her life; she is currently enjoying her fifth year working in the town’s tourist information office.

Ms Ryan praises Wyeth’s intervention almost four decades ago which, she said, “helped me live more independently”.

“I am working now, and that is all because of the help Wyeth gave me,” she said.

She was “totally shocked” at Nesté’s announcement that it was preparing to close the Wyeth plant.

“I thought it would be there for the next 30 or 40 [years] and go on to help generation after generation,” she said.

“All the young [workers] that have just started building houses and have mortgages and children ... they are going to be up in the air now.”

[ Nestlé reports sales growth despite Limerick plant closure decision ]

The proposed factory closure has been the “talk of the town”, locals said, and while staff who have worked there over the long term can expect to enjoy “very good redundancy packages”, there is concern for younger staff who have not built up years of employment to cushion the blow.

Wyeth’s non-stop production line of baby food has also indirectly helped feed the queues found at deli counters in the town, provide security for credit union loan applicants and support a variety of local businesses, from car dealerships to cafes, taxis and takeaways.

Josh Sheahan, owner of the Top of the Town pub, which is located up the road from the Wyeth plant, said he fears for the future of his trade, which has already been damaged by cheap supermarket alcohol prices as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wyeth-supported fundraising drives and factory staff parties that have buoyed business in Sheahan’s pub will be missed.

“If the factory closes, it will have a massive impact; I am savagely concerned, very, very concerned,” Sheahan said.

“It definitely is the end of an era – it’s going to be massive for the town, not only for Askeaton, but it will have a massive impact all over the region.”

Sheahan’s uncle, Kevin Sheahan, an outspoken local Fianna Fáil councillor for as long as the Wyeth factory has been there, said Nestlé’s announcement of its impending departure was like a “scud missile” hitting the town.

[ Nestlé to shut Co Limerick infant formula plant with loss of 542 jobs ]

“Askeaton benefited from Wyeth from the first day it arrived, and now there are people working there from a massive radius, they come from Listowel, north Kerry area, Charleville in North Cork and Limerick city, as well as from every parish across west Limerick,” Cllr Sheahan said.

“It has been an excellent company to the local community, they have been very generous to local charities, hundreds of thousands were raised through the Wyeth Cycle Club.”

Three generations of some families have worked in the plant, and marriages and births have been celebrated after loving relationships were fostered inside the factory walls.

“If the place closes, it will be a very serious situation that families will find themselves in,” he said.

“It’s very worrying – some people can cope with pressure, others cannot cope with pressure. We saw that with the financial crash where some people sailed through it no matter how badly wounded they were, but for others the consequences were horrendous.”