UP TO 100 jobs look set to be lost at the Keith Prowse call centre in Lisfannon, Buncrana, Co Donegal.
Management at the company, which handles ticket sales for entertainment events, told Highland Radio yesterday that some of the company’s operations in Buncrana would wind down over the next 24 hours, with the doors officially closing on Sunday.
Concerns were expressed initially in May of this year that the jobs at the centre in Buncrana, which handles ticket sales for major events, were set go.
The mayor of Buncrana, Sinn Féin councillor Pádraig McLoughlin, said last night the news was a major blow to an area already struggling with unemployment and emigration.
“This amounts to a double blow for Buncrana as the Keith Prowse operation here is based at one of the old Fruit of the Loom centres which closed in 2006, with the loss of 3,000 jobs.
“To make matters worse, unemployment in the Inishowen peninsula and Co Donegal is around 30 per cent, making it the highest in the State,” he said.
It is understood the closure has come about due to trading difficulties experienced by the parent company of Keith Prowse enterprises, Seatem Ltd.
“What’s needed now is for all the employment agencies to engage with the administrator to see if any jobs can be saved,” he said.
Fine Gael councillor Barry O’Neill said the Government was treating Donegal as the forgotten county. A spokesman for Minister for Enterprise Batt O’Keeffe said his officials were monitoring the situation in Buncrana closely.