Fears for 300 jobs at Derry clothing factory

Fears were growing today over the future of the jobs of 300 textile workers employed in Northern Ireland by a sole supplier to Marks & Spencer.

Desmonds confirmed that it was carrying out a review of operations in its last remaining factory in the North – a jeans production plant at Newbuildings in Derry.

A spokesman refused to speculate about the result of the review, saying only: “It will be completed as soon as possible, it could be days rather than weeks.”

But for the workforce there was a clear message – Desmonds has already shut down five factories in Northern Ireland this year with the loss of more than 800 jobs, each after a review of operations.

Work went in January with the closure of factories in Derry and Dungiven, Co Derry, and with the shut-down in May of plants in Omagh, County Tyrone, Swatragh, Co Derry, and Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh.

Price pressures have forced the company to move work abroad where it provides employment to nearly 5,500 people in the Near and Middle East.

It has its own plants in Sri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh and a number of other joint ventures.

Should the last remaining factory close, it will mark the end of a long history of production of clothing for Marks & Spencer in Northern Ireland.

It would leave Desmonds with fewer than 400 employees in the North, at its headquarters, warehousing and distribution centre at Drumahoe, Londonderry.

When the company announced the closure of the other plants it said had it not moved the work abroad it would have inevitably led to the demise of the firm “to the greater economic detriment of Northern Ireland”.

Desmonds is a privately owned firm with a turnover in excess of £125m (€181m) a year.

It insists its actions are not the result of a drop in business – that is going up – but the simple fact that it is no longer possible to produce clothing in the UK at the price dictated by the high street.