Manufacturing sector to lose more than 150 jobs

ABOUT 150 jobs are to be axed over the next year with the closure of two manufacturing plants in the north-west.

Cassette maker Saehan Media will end operations in Sligo with the loss of 91 jobs, while more than 60 are to go at the renowned Magee clothing company.

Saehan Media Ireland Ltd, which makes video and audio tapes, will shut its doors in April after making losses of €10 million last year.

Magee, a high quality clothing firm, will stop manufacturing in Donegal by June 2007, but design, marketing and administration staff will be kept on, along with retail staff at the local store.

A Saehan Media spokesman blamed the rapid increase in demand for DVDs, saying the videotape and cassette market was in steep decline.

Employees at the Hazelwood factory were told yesterday that the plant would close on April 28.

Management thanked staff for their commitment to the factory over the past 15 years and said negotiations would begin immediately on redundancy packages.

South Korean-based parent company Saehan Media has been in Sligo since 1991, at its height employing 500 people in the town.

Magee chairman Lynn Temple said the decision to end production by June 2007 was due to the high cost of manufacturing clothing in Ireland.

“The skill and experience of our staff has been a big part of Magee’s success and it has always been our ethos to create employment at home in Donegal. However, the economics of the marketplace means that this is no longer possible in clothing manufacturing,” she said.