The imminent shut down of Skrettings Ireland fish feed factory in Westport, announced this week, is devasting news for the 22 workers and dozens of subsidiaries at the plant. The company, which will close by the end of the year, has been in Westport since 1989, with almost half the staff working there for more than 20 years. Latest live register figures recorded 1,846 people already signing on in Westport up to the end of August, and SIPTU shop steward Owen O’Malley, a worker at the plant since 1990, has described this latest job loss news as a massive blow.
“Staff were shocked when the news came on Tuesday,” he said. “Production had fallen over the last couple of years but the last few months have been very busy. Since we found out I’ve just felt sick in the stomach. It’s an unreal feeling. We’ve had some of the best years of our life here and the chances of us getting new jobs are very slim in the current economic climate.”
In addition to the 22 jobs directly affected by the closure, Mr O’Malley said there would be a wider ripple effect throughout the area. “Probably 35-40 jobs will be lost in total, between the truck drivers who brought in and out the different products and those employed for on site maintenance, electrical, and engineering work,” he added. “A wide range of ancillary jobs will be lost with the closure of the plant.”
Westport councillor Peter Flynn described the news as a black day for Westport and the families involved.
“Unfortunately in this current economic situation it may be very hard for these workers to find employment again in the near future,” Cllr Flynn said. “People will talk about getting the IDA to bring in some new investment to the area, but that’s not going to happen. The IDA is focused on regional centres like Galway, Cork, and Limerick. They don’t have a strategy for Mayo at all.”
Despite the dark cloud the job losses will bring, Cllr Flynn suggested now is the time for Westport to look at developing the whole Quay area in the town. “It’s time we got stuck into that area as a community and with the local authority. A lot of the frontage is dilapidated and in need of regeneration. We need to start looking at other areas to generate jobs, such as adventure sports which Westport has been very succesful in marketing in the recent past.”
In a statement from the company Skrettings, managing director Anthony Murphy explained the plant closure was due to continuing production being “uneconomic”. He added that costs of production in Westport were almost twice that of sister plants in Invergordon in Scotland and Longridge in England. Redundancies are due to come into effect from December 23.
The company extended its thanks “for the loyalty and efforts of everyone involved in the Westport operation”.
“It’s a very bad day for the town of Westport which has already been badly affected by the economic downturn and has a seriously high unemployment rate,” SIPTU official Michael Kilcoyne told the Mayo Advertiser. “We are in negotiations already with managment of the plant in relation to redundancy and severance packages, but we are calling on all Government agencies to come together to bring jobs to Westport and Mayo. These were all very hard working people who performed their jobs to the highest of standards.”
