‘I’m here 22 years and I’m devastated’

SHOCKED, devastated, gutted, fearful about the future — the reactions of workers at Cappoquin Chickens after the cloud that hung over the plant all summer finally burst yesterday afternoon.

Talk of an 11th-hour rescue package for the troubled company had washed hope around the area earlier this week, but the pale faces of employees as they trickled out of the factory yesterday evening reflected the news they had been dreading. “I’m here 22 years and I’m just devastated now,” said Nellie Dalton. “What else can you say, it’s just so sad.” Her son John and daughter-in-law Anna also work at Cappoquin Chickens, meaning a lot of worry now within the Dalton family. Nellie herself wasn’t confident about alternative employment: “At my age now, I don’t know.”

Danny Coughlan, who worked for the processing plant owned by the O’Connor family for almost 40 years, said he felt for the younger workers. “There’s a good, young workforce in there who were giving a lot of their time to the firm and I feel sorry for those. Young people with mortgages. It is a sad day for the whole area because there’s a big spin-off in the services industries as well.”

After emerging from the plant a few minutes after the 5pm shift ended, Liam Aherne had just been told the news along with the rest of the workforce on duty yesterday evening. “We were told it will be six weeks, there’s no hope, no comeback” he said. “We thought a white knight might come along, but nothing really happened. I’m here eight years, but there’s some who have worked here for 38 years.”

SIPTU official David Lane came out of the meeting with liquidator Aidan O’Connell and said that west Waterford and east Cork would find it difficult to recover from this employment blow. “Cappoquin Chickens would be one of the biggest employers in the area. Unfortunately, I don’t know how many of these people are going to find employment after they finish up.”

Redundancy payments will be in line with minimum statutory requirements, but no more.

The imminent closure will bring an end to a history of chicken processing in the area stretching back more than 70 years in the hands of the O’Connor family. “We’re deeply sorry and the O’Connor family is deeply sorry with the whole situation,” said John O’Connor yesterday. His grandfather, Michael, first set up a processing business in the 1930s, subsequently run by his father, also Michael.

“For my father, it is like a death in the family,” said Mr O’Connor. “He’s devastated, to be honest.” He warned, however, that others around the country could soon be treading the same path to oblivion, given the amount of imported chickens: “Is there a long-term involvement in poultry in this country?” he wondered aloud.

Many believe there’s not. “At the end of the day,” said poultry supplier and IFA representative Ned Morrissey, “there’s no doubt the consumer will suffer for this. A Cappoquin chicken was a quality-assured Irish product, consumers aren’t going to get that in an imported fillet. Cappoquin Chickens were selling a Rolls Royce product at a Toyota Yaris price”.