Fine Gael leader Dep Enda Kenny this week expressed his concern that Castlebar could be hit with further job losses. The potential job losses, according to the TD, could occur at the Volex facility on the Breaffy Road in Castlebar. Dep Kenny believes that up to 14 jobs could be at risk in the company whose main business is the manufacture of cable assembly systems for various companies.
Volex has been in Castlebar since 1992 and had at one stage a work force of more than 830 in the town. That workforce has been reduced significantly since the turn of the decade; in 2001 146 temporary workers were let go from the plant and in early 2002 Volex let a further 230 people go from the plant, as the company switched its emphasis in the Castlebar operation from production to a European regional headquarters to deal with business management, business support, customer support, and a high technology centre. The company also has two other manufacturing and warehousing facilities in Europe, one in Lancashire, England, and the other in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Dep Kenny said that he received a communication regarding the difficult trading conditions and business environments being experienced by the company, and that managment at the company had indicated that 14 jobs may be at risk as the company tries to realign manufacturing capacity with customer demand.
“It is unfortunate that any company based in Co Mayo is facing increasingly difficult trading conditions,” Dep Kenny said. “It is even more concerning when Irish based jobs are at risk. While I welcome Volex’s continued support for choosing to operate in Co Mayo, it is a serious concern to see that further jobs may be at risk in the local area. Long gone are the days when Volex used to employ close on 1,000 people in the town and shows that this Fianna Fáil/Green Government have made little effort to protect jobs. Fine Gael has published various plans and documents over the past few months to both create and protect jobs. These plans mainly revolve around a €11 billion stimulus package that will make a real difference to people on the ground.”
Castlebar Mayor Cllr Michael Kilcoyne also spoke out on the worrying news that jobs may be a threat in the town. “I’m extremely concerned about any possible job going in the town, any news like this is not good news,” Cllr Kilcoyne told the Mayo Advertiser. “It wasn’t so long ago that there was around 1,000 people working for Volex in the town, but they have downscaled that in recent years. But it’s not just the big companies that are seeing numbers being shed. There are plenty of small business in the town that are letting go one, two, and three people. Each of those job losses is equally felt by the people who lose their jobs, and their families.”
In better news for the county, Fianna Fáil TD Beverly Flynn has welcomed the news that 10 new jobs have been created recently by Murray Ambulance Services. Dep Flynn said that it was a great boost in this time of recession to see a home based company provide 10 new, high skilled jobs at the top end of the health service market.
“I congratulate James and Siobhan Murray on their enterprise and initiative in setting up this quality ambulance service,” she said. “I have no doubt but that their confidence will be rewarded in the years ahead as Murray Ambulance Services goes from strength to strength. It’s a credit that they entered the market at a time of challenge, but also at a time of opportunity.”
Deputy Flynn also encouraged any other people with sound business ideas to follow the lead of Murray’s and to push forward with their ideas.
