Covid-19 pandemic forces Celtic Media to temporarily lay off number of workers

One of the country's biggest local and regional newspaper groups has announced it will lay off some staff temporarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Celtic Media says it will continue to publish five weekly papers in print and online, but the decision has come due to falling revenues.

The company employs 90 people and it will keep its print plant in Navan operating as normal.

A very difficult day. The Covid-19 pandemic has hit us hard. The collapse in revenues means colleagues in editorial and sales, will be temporarily laid off.
We fight on, we have to but the Publishing Industry needs urgent State support..1/2. https://t.co/GaDsLenmyB pic.twitter.com/YYbGnE1Ydb

— Gavan Becton (@GavBecton) March 20, 2020

Some of its publishing staff will be temporarily laid off and they will avail of the Covid-19 pandemic payment, while others will work agreed shorter hours next month. They also said that all its managers have offered to take temporary pay cuts.

Frank Mulrennan, chief executive of Celtic Media Group, said: "I am so proud of how my colleagues throughout the centres are responding to this crisis situation for us all in local businesses.

"By acting quickly once we saw the scale of revenue downturn in the last fortnight, we are putting in place a lower cost platform during these crisis weeks to allow us emerge as a strong business once the economy recovers."

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