SEVENTY WORKERS in a Co Mayo factory got a bleak pre-Christmas message from their employer yesterday when they were told the plant is to close in March.
The US-owned American Power Corporation (APC) is either to lay off its remaining personnel in Castlebar or transfer them to their main manufacturing base in Galway city.
A decade ago, APC was one of the flagships of industry in the Mayo capital, with more than 1,000 workers employed there. The company makes “uninterrupted power units” for the computer industry.
“It is most unfortunate that this type of announcement was made as the Christmas holiday period approaches and places great pressure on those affected,” Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said yesterday. Mr Kenny was minister for tourism and trade in a coalition government in the 1990s when State funding was provided to enable APC to set up its operations in the west.
Expressing sorrow at the company’s closure, Mr Kenny said he regretted that Wednesday’s Budget failed to create greater incentives for business to protect existing jobs and create new ones.
Reacting to the closure, the mayor of Castlebar, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, said efforts to create new jobs in the town would have to be redoubled.
Mr Kilcoyne said he had put forward a motion at a recent meeting of Castlebar Town Council for rates remission for local industries, but had got no support. This measure, if implemented, would undoubtedly have helped the local employment situation, he said.
Fianna Fáil TD Beverley Flynn said that while it was very disappointing news, it had to be acknowledged that APC was a very good employer which had contributed greatly to the local economy for many years. “The generous redundancy terms offered by APC confirms the commitment of the company to its workforce,” she said.
It is understood the redundancy offered is equal to four weeks plus statutory entitlements for every year of service.