Contrasting faces of Ireland

Starkly contrasting faces of Ireland were plain to see yesterday as a cutting-edge company which began life as a cattle breeding society announced new jobs on a rising tide of economic optimism while, simultaneously, a social justice think-tank released a stinging report showing poverty levels increasing across the country which now ranks among the worst in Europe.

Thanks to its visionary strategy, a remarkable rural company, the Clonakilty-based South Western group, decided to expand and diversify having put down its farming roots 57 years ago. Now one of Ireland’s leading outsourcing operations, it provides services which range from health claims administration to debt collection and helpdesk services for clients in both the public and private sectors.

For Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, whose portfolio also embraces Food and the Marine, yesterday’s official opening of a South Western office at the Little Island industrial zone near Cork City, was something of a reprieve from a recent wave of protests by irate farmers over what they see as the low prices being paid by Irish beef factories and by angry fishermen opposed to his support for the development of huge salmon farms off the west coast. Enjoying a good news day for a change, he also announced the creation of 300 jobs in small artisan food enterprises, each employing a handful of people.