Howlin concern at double jobs blow in under 48 hours

Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin TD, has expressed serious concern about the major job losses announced in the South-West in the past 48 hours at Novartis and Molex.

Deputy Howlin, who raised the issue with the Taoiseach in the Dáil today, commented:

“In less than 48 hours we’ve had two significant job loss announcements in Cork and Shannon with news of the pending closures of Novartis and Molex Ireland.

“These are not just 820 jobs; these are the livelihoods of 820 people and their families who are now left with serious worry and stress in the run up to Christmas.

“I’m also particularly concerned that these job losses appear to have come completely out of the blue for the Government and IDA, especially in relation to the jobs at Molex.

“I echo calls from my colleagues Deputies O’Sullivan and Sherlock in the affected regions, for the Government to ensure every that assistance is given to the workers in terms of retraining and upskilling, and with regard to welfare entitlements following the conclusion of any redundancy programmes.

“We also need to see increased efforts from the relevant minister to attract new business opportunities to the South-West region.

“However in light of the international trading conditions and particularly with Brexit just around the corner, the Government also needs to significantly ramp up its efforts to prepare the domestic economy for further instability on the international stage.

“What we need now is reassurance from Government that it has done its homework on the hostile trading environment in terms of further potential job losses and that measures are in place to buffer Irish jobs in this regard.”