ReactionNews of Dairygold's decision to close its Galtee Meats pig slaughtering and boning plant in Mitchelstown with the loss of 170 jobs was greeted with a mixture of dismay and anger by local community leaders, trade union representatives, pig producers and politicians yesterday afternoon.
Mitchelstown Community Council chairman Mr Bill Power said that the town was hugely dependent on Dairygold as it was by far the biggest employer in the town with around 1,000 workers, dwarfing the next largest employer which has just 60 people. The loss of 170 jobs was a major blow to the 4,500 people living in the town and the surrounding community, he added.
Mr Power said the local community had met the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Mary Harney, in April but she had been unable to offer them any promise of industry coming to the town.
"She said that she had nothing to offer us - we need to get a better response from the Government than we've had so far, because all we've got so far is nothing - we have an advanced factory that lies idle and if it continues like this, we're going to be consigned to the industrial scrapheap. We're a small town that's being turned into a ghost town."
Mitchelstown had already lost jobs when Dairygold's marketing division moved to Dublin and some cheese production transferred to Wales.
Mr Power said that if Dairygold is to rationalise its milk processing operations down from five plants - as suggested by Mr Henchy - then the company should centralise its milk processing in Mitchelstown as it was the local people and farmers who built up the name of Mitchelstown as the home of good cheese over the past 50 years.
Meanwhile, SIPTU general secretary Mr Joe O'Flynn - whose union represents the majority of workers in the plant - said that the news was a devastating blow for both Mitchelstown and Roscrea. He called on Ms Harney to see if the Government could help to save the jobs.
Mr O'Flynn said that it seemed that Ms Harney and her department had abandoned traditional industries such as the food sector and manufacturing in favour of trying to attract high-tech jobs - and that this was a mistake as traditional industries could still provide employment for people and it might still be possible to reverse some of the job losses.
IFA Pigs Committee chairman and Galtee Meats supplier Mr Pat O'Keeffe warned that the move would lead to a number of smaller pig producers getting out of the business. He said it could also have repercussions for the 250 or so people employed either directly or indirectly by pig producers in the Mitchelstown area.
Cork East Labour TD Mr Joe Sherlock said that he wasn't convinced by comments from Mr Henchy that it would not be possible for the company to lease the slaughterhouse and boning plant to pig producers who would supply meat to the company.
Fine Gael Senator Mr Paul Bradford said Mitchelstown has not had a new industry for more than a generation.
