Job task force for region ‘not shelved’

THE Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment rejected claims yesterday that a Task Force launched by Tánaiste Mary Harney for Donegal in 1999 had been shelved, claiming more than 1,000 jobs had been created since it was set up.

However, SIPTU Donegal branch secretary Sean Reilly said this was nothing to boast about when 4,000 jobs had been lost in the past five years on a very conservative estimate.

Meanwhile, the clothing company Fruit of the Loom made it clear yesterday they would press ahead with plans to close its two Irish factories over a period of five years with the loss of more than 630 jobs.

But the company did confirm it would be two years before implementation of the redundancy plan and it would be spread over a three-year period.

Some 370 jobs in Buncrana, Donegal, and 260 at Campsie, Derry, are to go.

Fine Gael Senator Joe McHugh yesterday accused the Tánaiste of failing to act to tackle the unemployment in areas like Donegal.

He said she had launched a Task Force report for Donegal in 1999 but it had since been lying redundant on a shelf in Lifford.

He said the comprehensive work by community groups, chambers of commerce, Derry City Council and Donegal County Council needed help from both governments to turn the local economy around.

A spokesperson for the Tánaiste said more than 1,000 jobs had been created in the Donegal area since the Task Force was established and many of these companies were continuing to recruit workers, she said.