Fruit of the Loom closure

The Fruit of the Loom plant in Raphoe, Co Donegal, closed down completely yesterday with the loss of 220 jobs

The Fruit of the Loom plant in Raphoe, Co Donegal, closed down completely yesterday with the loss of 220 jobs. The workers had been on short-term contracts since April.

Some 770 redundancies were announced at Fruit of the Loom last December when the company began the process of moving its T-shirt sewing operations to Morocco. Three satellite plants in Milford, Malin and Raphoe closed as a result.

All of the company's remaining workers in Buncrana in Co Donegal and in Derry city are to be put on a three-day working week from next week. This short-time working was announced last week and is due to a fall in sales, according to the company.