The Government was urged yesterday to make a major effort to support the IDA in the midlands after Athlone suffered its fourth major jobs setback in less than two years.
The call, by the president of Athlone Chamber of Commerce, Mr Iain Marr, followed yesterday's announcement by Manufacturers Services Ltd (MSL) that it is to close, with the loss of 200 jobs. The company, which made parts for the electronics industry, had been operating in Athlone since 1994.
A second MSL facility in Galway, which employs 250, is unaffected by yesterday's announcement, which the company blamed on the global downturn in the electronics sector.
Mr Mike Stenson, general manager of the Athlone plant, said its closure was a sad day for everyone involved.
"During the nine years operating at the Athlone site, MSL has made significant contributions to the local economy.
"However, given the business climate and ongoing cost pressures, we are left with no alternative but to cease operations in Athlone," he said.
Staff were informed about the closure yesterday, and the company said a 30-day consultation process with workers and their representatives would now take place.
As part of the redundancy programme, it has promised "a range of support and consultancy services" to help staff secure alternative employment.
MSL's former Irish chairman, Mr Kevin Melia, stepped down in January and received a severance payment of just over €1 million.
The company's headquarters is in Concord, Massachusetts.
The closure is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Government's job creation efforts, and follows a poor month in terms of unemployment.
More people - a total of 11,747 - joined the live register in June than in any single month since 1986, bringing the dole queue to a four-year high of 177,852.
Last month was also the worst for notified redundancies so far this year.
Mr Marr said the closure of MSL was a "serious blow" and brought to nearly 1,000 the number of jobs lost in Athlone over the past 18 months.
Previous job losses included about 100 at Ericsson, 250 at Elan and 300 at William Hill.
The town, he said, was designated a gateway to the Border Midlands West (BMW) region, which was supposed to get 50 per cent of all jobs created as a result of the National Development Plan.
The town had also, along with Tullamore and Mullingar, been identified as an economic development hub in the National Spatial Strategy.
It was time, he believed, for the Government to stop developing strategies and to begin implementing them.
"The Government is doing all this talking and saying it is going to do this and that. It really needs to get its finger out and to support the IDA."
Mr Marr said it was also vital that the Government proceeded with building the M6 motorway between Galway and Dublin.
With current infrastructure it was not possible to predict how long it would take to get from Athlone to Dublin Airport at any given time.
This was a major issue for senior managers from international companies visiting the town, he said.
The local Fine Gael TD, Mr Denis Naughten, said the MSL announcement was a a major blow to staff, the local economy and to the midlands in general.
He said the Government had admitted to failing to implement a number of infrastructural programmes in the BMW region, and called on it to take immediate action to ensure that new greenfield developments were located in the region.
"If Government continues to sit on its hands, further job losses are inevitable," Mr Naughten added.
