SNACK FOOD manufacturer Largo Foods has announced that 123 employees at its plant on the Gweedore Industrial Estate in Co Donegal will lose their jobs in the coming months. Largo is the main employer in west Donegal, employing 250 staff.
Largo employs a total of 601 people at its plants in Gweedore, and Ashbourne, Co Meath. The 123 jobs will go between now and the end of August.
In a statement the company said it had to make this decision to cut costs, improve its competitiveness and sustain its business.The firm’s automated plant in Ashbourne can produce high-volume, low-margin product more cost effectively, and some of the products manufactured in Gweedore will be produced in Ashbourne.
Donegal Fianna Fáil TD Pat “The Cope” Gallagher described the news as a devastating blow for west Donegal, and said it would be very difficult to find replacement jobs in the short-term.
“I hope even at this late stage that Údarás na Gaeltachta may be able to convince the company that they should reconsider their decision and assist in provision of machinery that could allow them to compete and sustain business in west Donegal.”
Company owner Raymond Coyle said it was facing severe competition from multinationals that do not have Ireland’s high cost base. He also said the weakness of sterling had significantly compounded the difficulties facing domestic exporters.
“It is difficult to export high-volume, low-margin product to the UK from our plant in Gweedore. However, we will continue to manufacture a range of high-value products which we have developed internally and are selling successfully in Ireland and the UK and we intend to build on this in Gweedore,” he said.
“The changes announced today are necessary if we are to sustain and develop our business. The company will support, assist and advise its employees in every way it can at what is inevitably a very difficult time. This will include the offer of a number of positions in Ashbourne to current Gweedore employees.”
Meanwhile, employees of the Irish arm of international delivery giant DHL could face substantial job losses and centralisation of several depots. Last November, the company confirmed plans to close its Letterkenny depot and lay off up to 35 staff at various centres around the country.
There are fears of more losses after reports that senior DHL executives travelled to Shannon in Clare yesterday to hold meetings with management and staff there.
There has been speculation in recent months that DHL would centralise operations at Limerick to a massive freight facility it owns in Smithstown in Shannon. In 2007, operations at some of the company’s depots in the Dublin area were centralised to a purpose-built facility near Dublin airport.
The company (in Ireland) had an operating loss of €4.7 million in 2007 reporting sales of almost €157 million, a fall of about €6.1 million on 2006. DHL was not available for comment yesterday.