Minister for Jobs Mary Mitchell O'Connor says every effort is being made to secure a buyer for HP's print plant in Leixlip following the company's decision to close the business with the loss of up to 500 jobs.
She said the IDA was working to ensure the site was sold as a going concern and “to make sure that those people who have lost their jobs will be re-employed”.
Ms Mitchell O’Connor said she had directed the IDA to work with the company in the time ahead to help secure a buyer for the Leixlip site. However, she declined to indicate if the agency had drawn up a shortlist of prospective buyers yet. The Minister said her thoughts were with the HP employees and their families.
“There is no doubt that this is a significant blow to the employees, their families and to the region,” she said.
“I am in daily contact with the IDA and I have asked the agency to continue with their efforts to ensure jobs are delivered to the region,” she said. She said the department via the IDA had attempted to dissuade the company from closing the plant after it was first mooted as part of a restructuring plan back in October.
“We fought long and hard to ensure Leixlip wasn’t in that plan,” she said.
However, she said she noted with regret that the redundancies are arising on account of the company’s global efficiency strategy to accelerate its business transformation.
She said the transfer of work will be phased over 2017 with planned completion by February 2018.
Ms Mitchell O’Connor said she had asked that all the supports of the state will be made available to any workers affected by this decision.
"I have spoken with my colleague Leo Varadkar, Minister for Social Protection, and he has confirmed that officials in his department are being deployed to brief staff on State supports and retraining options.
She said the company remained committed to Ireland and intends to have a continued sales operations presence here.
"Today's announcement also has no bearing whatsoever on the workers and operations of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a completely separate company that employs over 2,100 people in Leixlip, Galway and Cork," she said.
