The textiles industry in Co Down has suffered another blow with the announcement that the carpet manufacturing firm, Regency Spinners, is to lay off 78 staff at its plant in Newtownards, citing lack of orders as the reason.
This follows the announcement last week by the Lamont Group that it had issued 90-day redundancy notices to 265 staff in Ballygowan, Killinchy and Newtownards while it tries to find a buyer for the three factories. The company put the blame for the move on over-capacity in the European market, the continued strength of sterling and the rising price of raw materials. Meanwhile, clothing supplier William Baird said it was suing Marks & Spencer for more than £53 million sterling (€85.59 million) after the decision by the retail giant to terminate a 30-year contract with the firm. Baird is being forced to close down factories throughout the UK; the future of two in Northern Ireland, at Bangor and Newtownards, employing a total of 500 people, is uncertain.
It is now estimated that within the past few months, around 1,000 workers have either been made redundant, or are under threat of redundancy, in the Northern Ireland clothing and textiles sector.
Mr Kieran McCarthy, Alliance Party assembly member for the Strangford constituency, which includes Newtownards, said that while he hoped a buyer could be found for the three Lamont factories in the area, the longterm answer was to move away from the traditional industries.
"It has been clear for some years that our heavy reliance on the textile industry in this area was not sustainable," he said.
However, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Sir Reg Empey, said he believed the clothing and textiles sector still had a future in Northern Ireland.
He said the IDB was working with the Northern Ireland Growth Challenge and the Northern Ireland Textiles and Apparel Association to improve competitiveness in local companies.
