Black Friday as Dunbia announce 80 redundancies

The community of Kilbeggan was devastated last week when the meat-processing plant, Dunbia, announced that 80 jobs were to be lost on Friday, March 13.Dunbia, which employs around 230 people from Kilbeggan and surrounding areas, said redundancies were being introduced to further reduce operating costs.In a statement released by the general manager of Dunbia, Padraig Brown said, 'It is with regret that the company has today announced 80 redundancies along with proposals to further reduce our operating costs'.'The company will now enter into a 30 day consultation process with our employees'.Dunbia first began operating out of Kilbeggan in 2001, specialising mainly in the export market, and further expanded the company in 2003 with the addition of a boning facility.In response to the news, local County Councillor Paul Daly said it was an unexpected and devastating blow for the community:'We weren"t expecting the news at all, especially not in that industry because it"s not as if it"s part of the construction industry, where you would be expecting job losses,' he said.'I suppose it is a Godsend that it is only a percentage of the Dunbia workforce that is being lost, and I would not like to see any further job go,' he continued.'In one way, we are lucky here in Kilbeggan that we don"t rely on the large employers to be the backbone of the town"s economy. Kilbeggan is full of family run small business employers.'Willie Penrose, Labour Party TD for Longford and Westmeath said on Friday that the loss of jobs at the plant was a very serious blow to the company and to the local community, and comes as the second major employment setback to the town in recent years.'This employer is of critical importance to the local economy and any further threat to jobs there would be a very serious matter indeed, especially in the context of the fact that every direct job that is lost, leads to the loss of an indirect job,' he said.'Since the Kilbeggan by-pass has been built,' continued Mr. Penrose, 'passing trade in the town has declined and traders are coming under increasing pressure. Today"s news represents further bad news for local businesses.'Fine Gael Senator Nicky McFadden commented on how bad the news was for Dunbia workers and their families:'This is truly terrible news for the town, the entire area, the workers and their families. Dunbia is the single biggest employer in Kilbeggan and is hugely important to the local economy.'Many of the Dunbia workers losing their jobs still have mortgages, car loans and credit card bills to pay. There is very little alternative employment in the immediate area, and the entire midlands region has been badly hit by the current depression.Employees at the Dunbia factory in Kilbeggan were unwilling to speak to the Westmeath Examiner about the layoffs.It is believed that information regarding job security between management and workers at the meat processing plant, has been brief, and it is rumoured that layoffs will come in the form of a 'last in, first out' basis.