A prominent Gaeltacht firm went out of business yesterday, with all 45 workers at a coach-building company laid off at lunchtime when the company announced it was going into liquidation. Catriona Gallenreports.
Údaras na Gaeltachta is hopeful that another operator will buy the business, Euro Coach Builders in Gweedore, Co Donegal, and keep the staff.
The company, which renovates buses, is owned and managed by local man Joe Ferry and has been operating since 1985.
Mr Ferry said cheaper foreign markets had squeezed the company's profit margins and put it out of business.
The decision to lay-off all 45 workers was taken following a meeting by the board of directors earlier in the week. A statutory meeting of creditors will take place on 12 September to appoint a liquidator.
In a statement, Mr Ferry said the company had "conducted a review of business activities as the company had been facing increased competition in the bus manufacturing sector in the last few years.
"Increasing competitive pressure during the last couple years has forced the company to make this decision," Mr Ferry's statement said.
"The company very much regrets the job losses resulting from this unavoidable decision and wish to fully acknowledge the loyal support of its staff in Gaoth Dobhair," said Mr Joe Ferry.
The Company's board of directors and Údarás na Gaeltachta board members had met to discuss the situation before the announcement was made yesterday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Údaras na Gaeltachta said: "We will work in support of the liquidator who will be selling on the business and its assets. We are optimistic at this stage the business will be taken over by another company and the workforce maintained," he said.
"It was a terrible blow to the workers. There was a collective feel-good factor in the area that a Gaeltacht man had done well and now there is also a collective sense of loss," he added.
Senator Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin expressed his disappointment, saying "employment in Donegal is at crisis point with 18 per cent of the population currently unemployed."
He called on the Government to introduce subsidies to attract business into the region.