Labour fears Dairygold will lay off 800 more workers
Labour TD Kathleen Lynch raised the spectre of further job losses with the boss of Enterprise Ireland who appeared yesterday before the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business.
Ms Lynch said the "next 800 redundancies would have a devastating impact on that whole area."
"What are you going to do about that whole area?" she asked Frank Ryan, chief executive, Enterprise Ireland.
Mr Ryan replied the food sector was of huge importance to EI.
Last night a spokesman confirmed it has given Galtee grants of almost €750,000 since 1992.
Galtee is to close withthe loss of more than 250 jobs in Mitchelstown and Roscrea.
So far Dairygold has axed more than 1,000 jobs in the group.
A further 170 go at the end of October as part of the Galtee rationalisation.
Those figures are understood to be part of the 800 figure mentioned by Ms Lynch, who is Labour TD for Cork North Central.
If the job shedding goes ahead then more than 1,500 jobs will have been slashed by the dairy group, which is a major employer in the North Cork region.
Dairygold boss Jerry Henchy told Tánaiste Mary Harney that between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs were on the line in Dairygold shortly after he took over the top job.
Joe Sherlock, Labour's TD for the Dairygold region, added his voice to the concerns for the jobs in the dairy cooperative.
Mr Henchy has argued that cost efficiencies had to be ground out of the organisation in order to survive.
Jobs have been slashed across the organisation at this stage, but locals fear that significantly more job shedding is on its way.
At present 250 jobs are on the way out at Roscrea and Mitchelstown under the Galtee closures.
Ms Lynch said she was concerned that the dairy plants and other areas of the business could be hit hard in the months ahead.
Last night a spokesman for Dairygold said "there is nothing in the pipeline at the minute."
He confirmed however that by the time the redundancy package is put to bed up to 1,500 jobs will have been axed.
