200 jobs to go at Youghal plant

A total of 200 jobs are to be lost through the closure of a compact disc factory in Youghal, Co Cork.

The move to shut down the Technicolour Home Entertainment plant, formerly owned by the Eastman Kodak company, of the United States, follows the loss of Youghal’s other major employer, Artesyn Technologies, which created 160 redundancies by pulling out shortly before Christmas.

The development was described as a body blow for the workers and the region by Fine Gael's David Stanton.

Deputy Stanton called for urgent action to find alternative appointments for those people losing their jobs, pointing out that the East Cork area had lost five major industries in recent years.

Labour’s Joe Sherlock warned that the affected region was in danger of becoming “an economic disaster area“.