Call for Government support following job losses in Limerick

ENTERPRISE Minister Peter Burke has been urged to put in place an investment plan for west Limerick after 140 job losses were confirmed at one of the area’s biggest employers.

Abbeyfeale has been left reeling by the news that car parts manufacturer Kostal will lose 140 of its 500-strong workforce by the end of this year.

It comes as the firm outsources the production of on-board chargers to China.

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It’s understood 95 operator jobs and 45 non-operator positions are to be lost in the town on Kerry’s border.

Talks are to kick off between company bosses and SIPTU representatives with union organiser Eva Mitchell saying she expects any redundancies will initially be on a voluntary basis.

Sinn Fein Senator Joanne Collins, who has raised the issue in the Upper House on a number of occasions, said: “The Minister for Enterprise needs to step in. He needs to look at putting in proper investment in west Limerick. We need the infrastructure here, and we need to show what we can do for business in west Limerick”.

She said many of the 340 staff who will remain at Kostal’s Abbeyfeale factory will likely be “walking on eggshells”.

“But it seems like this is the way the world is going. What is the next thing, they are going to move to China?” asked Ms Collins.

She said she is “completely devastated” for workers impacted.

“Everyone around Abbeyfeale and the surrounding area would know Kostal was like what Analog and Dell were like years ago. That you went from secondary school into work with them. Many could be 40 yearsworking there, and they are out of all of a sudden. They’d not be at retirement age, and they’ve probably never had to write a CV in their life,” the senator added.
“Government is going to need to step up and put in place support for these families.

It was last year when Kostal announced its plans for on-board charges that job losses in Abbeyfeale were put on the agenda.

But SIPTU organiser Eva Mitchell said the scale of the redundancies has sparked “deep distress and anger among employees, their families and the wider community”.

“Kostal’s Irish workforce has given decades of dedicated service to the company. The commitment, skill and professionalism they have shown would seem to count for little in the face of changes driven by global factors beyond their ability to influence,” she added.

A Kostal spokesperson said the announcement “in no way reflects upon the commitment and work ethic of employees at Kostal’s Abbeyfeale site. Kostal has had a presence in Abbeyfeale since 1981, manufacturing automotive products for the global automotive industry, with on-board charger products being manufactured since 2011.”

Independent Ireland TD Richard O’Donoghue raised the job losses in Dail Eireann as information on them filtered through on Thursday last.

“The people of Abbeyfeale have now lost 140 jobs to China. Is the writing not on the wall? What will this do for the people in Abbeyfeale? The businesses they support in Abbeyfeale and around communities in Kerry and Limerick? What have you got to say to them this evening,” the TD asked Government.

Kostal’s plant in Mallow is not impacted.