Job losses at Dairygold are eroding the economic fabric of north Cork, argues Tony Lewis.
The recent closure of the Dairygold bacon factory in Mitchelstown with the loss of 140 jobs passed, when it came, with hardly a political comment and little media attention. As much as anything, it signifies the almost fatalistic view on the uncontrollable momentum towards the dismantling of Dairygold, the only employer of scale in the north Cork town.
Presumably, this is where Dairygold would like the public mood to be as it will allow further incremental job losses, even within profitable sections of the co-operative, to continue unchallenged. Even in these cynical times, the portrayal of the closure of profitable enterprises as a management success must surely be the ultimate triumph of spin over substance.
Job losses at Dairygold currently stand at 1,000 and by the co-op's own admission, will rise to at least 1,500 in the near future. In a town in which Dairygold is the only large employer, the economic and social impact of what has already happened is dramatic and is not yet finalised. Significant additional redundancies in virtually every other economic sector in north Cork will follow as a host of businesses and contractors feel the downstream effects. And the Government response? Nothing.
Indeed, the silence from the Government has been extraordinary and baffling. Not for Mitchelstown, apparently, the well-publicised Government interventions and task forces which greeted large-scale - but fewer - job losses at Krups in Limerick, General Semiconductor in Macroom or Fruit of the Loom in Donegal.
There are serious concerns in the north Cork community about the treatment of those who are being made redundant. It reflects little credit on Dairygold that it is not assisting those who have given long service to the co-op, through up-skilling or alternative job placement efforts.
Indeed, the comment has oft been made of late that even the crassest multinational involved in a redundancies would have done more to ameliorate the impacts than has the co-op whose ownership is, ironically, "community-based" .
Given that, the failure of shareholders and board members to insist on best practice in respect of these issues is lamentable.
Nor is there any sense that the sweeping changes in Dairygold are being considered, managed and scheduled with any reference to the broader community and economic concerns of Mitchelstown. Quite the contrary.
Mitchelstown is a microcosm of the changing face and demise of the old agricultural economy. Dairygold, the only remaining large co-operative society involved in food production which recently employed over 3,000 people will, in relative terms, be minimally staffed and perhaps increasingly dependent on imported produce, creatively branded as "Irish". Where that leaves the State's international marketing drives on premium Irish produce, one can only guess.
It is a source of wonder to the people of north Cork that an enterprise which has received significant monies from the State in grant aid should now be locating its cheese pre-packing activity to a British-government subsidised operation in Wales, while making its Irish workers redundant. All this without a protest from a Government department or State agency.
Indeed, it says much for the health of Irish agriculture that its largest food production co-operative enterprise now identifies property development activity as one of its major profitability planks going forward.
The Prospectus Report on the National Rationalisation of the Food Industry commissioned by Government and published last year states clearly that the number of production plants in the Irish food industry should be dramatically reduced.
The proposition that a few super food production plants replace existing structures is difficult to reconcile with the Government's much-feted policy to favour sectoral competition which will be greatly undermined in this plan. Too few players in a sector does not encourage great competition as can be seen from the banking industry in this State.
Neither does the Prospectus report address the vacuum in economic activity that will take place in rural towns like Mitchelstown with the closure of food-production plants. Indeed, there seems to be no Government planning to sustain employment in the wake of the profound changes which are to happen.
So who is going to help Mitchelstown and other similar rural towns to build the road for the next generation? Presently it does not seem likely that the co-operative movement is interested; Government intervention in terms of job-training, capital investment and the creation of new alternative employment clusters looks unlikely given it doesn't even have a policy on the matter.
For north Cork, the erosion of its economic fabric continues. Dairygold's most recent decision to transfer its 120 administration staff from Mallow and Mitchelstown to Cork Airport Business Park outside Cork city drips with symbolism.
A nadir even by recent Dairygold standards, it represents the ultimate disconnection between the co-op's hinterland and the enterprise. My hope is that it will prove to be a rallying point for local people and will ultimately convince a hitherto silent board and the shareholders to reflect on what is happening to their community.
Tony Lewis is chairman of the Mitchelstown Business Association which represents commercial and professional interests in the town