Jobs threat over power plant closure
The temporary closure of a €240m power plant due to a technical fault will cost millions of euro and up to 200 jobs, it emerged tonight.
Bord na Mona, which supplies peat fuel to the West Offaly Power Plant, said it would be forced to cut staff levels amid projected losses of over €5m.
The Shannonbridge plant, which opened just over a year ago, closed several weeks ago amid concerns about the level of corrosion in piping.
Bord na Mona Managing Director John Hourican said tonight that the company would be forced to review its permanent and seasonal staff numbers following the incident.
“It will have a serious impact on the profitability of Bord na Mona in the current (financial) year, which ends in March ‘07, and we’re looking at figures in excess of 5m euro at this stage, which is serious for us,” he said.
ESB spokesman Eoin O’Neachtain said the pipes, which are under warranty, would be replaced and the plant would be reopened.
“While we are disappointed we had to close down the plant for a few weeks and the loss of production associated with that, to a certain degree we’re happy that it happened in the early stages and that it can be rectified,” he told RTE.
Ciaran Kelly, a former Bord na Mona worker, said the people of Shannonbridge were worried about job losses.
“It is a severe blow because it’s the only place for employment here now with the ESB and Bord na Mona, there’s nothing else,” he added.
Labour Party TD Tommy Broughan said Bord na Mona workers had a right to feel aggrieved over the enforced closure of the plant.
“The admission by Bord Na Mona that the company may have to review employment levels in the midlands will be bad news for a lot of Bord na Mona Workers,” he said.
“This facility was opened less than two years ago at the cost of €240m. Serious questions need to be asked over how the whole project has been managed.
“It appears that Bord Na Mona, ESB, and their workforces will all suffer as a result.”
Fine Gael Natural Resources Spokesman Bernard Durkan said the continued closure would be a serious blow to the people of Co Offaly.
“hat is most worrying is the knock-on effect this closure will have on approximately 200 people who would normally have found permanent and seasonal employment with Bord na Mona,” he added.
Contractor Foster Wheeler, which is headquartered in New Jersey, started work on the site on the east bank of the River Shannon in August 2002.
The plant generated its first power in September 2004 and has been in full operation since January 2005. It was officially opened by Finance Minister Brian Cowen last July.
