130 jobs lost as Gaeltacht firm shuts immediately

MORE than 130 jobs have been lost across the country after a Gaeltacht community development company shut down with immediate effect.

The directors of Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta (MFG) took the decision on Wednesday. They told staff of the job losses and asked them to finish up immediately because the company is insolvent.

“This news has come like a bolt from the blue for the workers, but the management and board have some very serious questions to answer,” said Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh.

“The board came to their decision after an investigation by management company Mazars who had been appointed by funding body Pobal. They advised the board to cease trading immediately, I understand.

“But the problems in MFG didn’t start today or yesterday. It is well known that this company has had difficulties for a long time,” the Galway-based senator said.

MFG employs approximately 34 full-time staff and about 100 others on schemes and projects managed by the company under the LEADER and LCDP programmes for all the Gaeltacht areas in the country.

Sen Ó Clochartaigh said he is most concerned for the hundreds of people who depend on funding for small community-based projects.

“The most pressing issue now, however, is to ensure that the people and community groups who depend on funding from MFG are looked after and that everything possible is done to save the jobs of the front-line workers who have given years of invaluable service to their communities,” he said.

Former gaeltacht affairs minister, Éamon Ó Cuív, said he was angered by the knee-jerk closure of Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta and still holds hope that the company can be saved.

“I understand that the chairman and the chief executive of MFG are meeting Pobal. I would hope that out of that meeting an arrangement could be made to continue in business, to keep providing the services, and that the necessary changes that have to come about within MFG would then be done in a planned manner, rather than the unnecessary, precipitate action taken this week,” he said.