Talks begin on future of Youghal Carpets staff

Unions and management at the Youghal Carpet Yarns plant in east Cork are due to meet this morning to discuss the future of 270 workers laid off by the company last week.

The workers were hopeful that Government intervention could save the factory, but the MANDATE trade union is pessimistic about the matter.

Mattie O’Callaghan, a MANDATE spokesman, said a grant from the Government was mentioned as a possible life-line. "The company had indicated at one stage that, if there was a cash investment from Government, that may have saved the plant going forward," he said.

"We still have a duty to explore that, to see if it’s possible and whether there are other interested parties that could save the plant for the future, but if that’s not possible, the most important thing is the redundancy package."