The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has sought a meeting with senior executives of Moulinex-Brandt following yesterday's decision to close its electrical goods plant, GMX, with the loss of 230 jobs in his constituency town of Thurles, Co Tipperary.
Mr Smith said he was making arrangements for a meeting to discuss how long the plant, which makes coffee grinders, blenders and kettles, would remain open and what redundancy packages were being offered.
The managing director of the plant, Mr Emile Morvain, travelled to the corporate headquarters in France yesterday to hear details of the rationalisation plan which will result in the loss of 4,000 jobs worldwide.
Mr Andy Dawson, quality manager, said the plant had always made a profit, producing 250,000 appliances a month. "We have managed to deliver at every turn. External factors have done us in."
Suffering from Asian competition, Moulinex-Brandt reported a net loss of £102 million for 2000. Moulinex also owned the Krups factory in Limerick which closed in 1998 with the loss of 500 jobs.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, said an inter-agency group would be established to find new employment.
But the Independent Tipperary North TD, Mr Michael Lowry, said he was unhappy with "the standard reaction" of establishing a task force. "I have seen too many task forces fail to deliver," he said. He called on the Government to make a commitment to deliver new industry.
The president of the local Chamber of Commerce, Mr Bill Dwan, a pub and microbrewery owner, said the news was like a death in the family. A quarter of the industrial workforce had lost their jobs in the town of 7,500 and the local economy would lose about £4 million annually. "The town is reeling. There is a fair bit of frustration among the workforce, that is to be expected."
Mr Michael Dundon, editor of the Tipperary Star, said GMX was the last of three companies established in the wake of the sugar factory closure in the late 1980s. "The worrying thing from a county perspective is there have been closures in Roscrea and Tipperary and there has been talk of task forces and special committees to attract industry but nothing has actually happened."
Most of the workers congregated at Larry Fogarty's pub in Liberty Square yesterday after they got the rest of the day off. Many of them were bitter at the sudden attention when there had been indications for months, including a series of redundancies, that the plant would close. Last summer, GMX was employing 300 people.
"Eight weeks ago we got word that the factory could be going and nobody came near us. We even told TDs and not one of them came to the factory. They were all up there this morning," said Ms Margaret Moynihan, a mother of three.