Jobs fears for Cadbury’s plants in Ireland
There are fears for over 200 jobs at two separate Cadbury's plants in Dublin and Co Kerry.
SIPTU has said Mondelez Ireland is to seek large scale redundancies at the plants in Coolock and Rathmore.
The union has described the news as a bombshell. Production is reportedly being transferred from Coolock to Poland.
The Rathmore plant, which employs 84 people has been in operation since 1948, while the production plant in Coolock, where over 700 people work, opened in 1964.
Jobs Minister Richard Bruton has said he has been actively asking senior management to “reconsider this decision” and added “the supports of the State” will be there for those workers hit by redundancies.
My first thoughts are with the workers and their families as they receive this very difficult news.
All the supports of the State will be made available to workers as and when needed.
I have been engaging in recent days with senior management of the company and have urged them to reconsider this decision, and asked him if there is anything the State or its agencies can do to mitigate its effects. Unfortunately due to a cost base which is significantly out of line with competitor countries it appears likely that the company will proceed.
The company has pledged to support departing workers with placement services.
The company will also be working closely with workers in an effort to ensure that the impact of this decision is minimised to the greatest extent possible and to discuss investment it will be making in Ireland in order to build a stronger business here for the long term.
Enterprise Ireland will be involved in those discussions and I have directed the agencies of my Department to step up their efforts to bring employment to the areas affected.
Job-creation remains a huge challenge for Ireland. We face a huge battle to retain and improve our competitiveness, to maintain the jobs we have and to create new jobs. Thankfully we are creating more jobs than we are losing and the unemployment rate, while still far too high, is falling. Every region of the country is benefiting from these changes.
However major challenges remain and today's very difficult announcement is a reminder that we have to continue to fight every day to protect and create jobs.
