Council calls for ‘high-powered’ delegation to go to Baxter HQ

‘PEOPLE ARE WORRIED’ ?Cllr Al McDonnell.

Council calls for ‘high-powered’ delegation to go to Baxter HQ in US to ensure future of Castlebar plant


Áine Ryan

MAYO County Council has called on the government to send a high-powered delegation to the headquarters of Baxter in Deerfield, Illinois, to ensure the future of its plant in Castlebar, The Mayo News can reveal.
Proposing the motion, Fianna Fail’s Cllr Al McDonnell warned that last week’s news of 110  jobs to be lost at the company’s Castlebar facility was very ‘serious’. He was speaking before councillors and management addressed the busy agenda for yesterday’s monthly meeting of the local authority.
“This is not about the discontinuation of a product, it is about the redeployment of resources to a cheaper market. These are strategic decisions about the moving of resources and personnel to such countries as Poland and China and such decisions are made in Illinois,” said Cllr McDonnell.
He said that the people on the streets of Castlebar were ‘worried’  and well remembered what happened next door in Volex.
His Fianna FΡil colleagues, Cllrs Blackie Gavin and Damian Ryan supported his proposal which was debated in the context of the fact that Enda Kenny had flown out to New York back in 1985, when the company - then known locally as Travenol - announced plans to shut down the Castlebar operation with the loss of 1,400 jobs.
Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne observed that multinationals like Baxter, which is based in 27 countries, often have ‘a bigger turnover than the Republic of Ireland’.
Speaking also about the general jobs situation in the county town, he said the reality was that 250 jobs had been earmarked to go since last September in Castlebar.
“My understanding too is that the Ambulance Base in Castlebar - which is one of only two in the country, the other being in Dublin - is due to be transferred to Ballyshannon, (County Donegal), in February. This was secured by (former minister) Mary Coughlan before she left office, “ Cllr Kilcoyne said.
Responding after several contributions, Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn said that an hour of the meeting had already been spent talking about issues the members could not influence.
“Is this a debating society or a council meeting? If Baxter (in Illinois) saw the two boys (McDonnell and Blackie Gavin) landing they’d close the front gates and be gone out the back gate,” Cllr Flynn said.
Interjecting, Cllr McDonnell repeated there was ‘great merit in sending a high-powered delegation to Illinois’.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s Cllr Cyril Burke said there were ‘two sets of redundancies at Baxter back in the 1980s’ and that the one last year was over-subscribed with applications for voluntary redundancies.
”Baxter intends to be around for the long haul and, hopefully, they will get the redundancies voluntarily,” Cllr Burke said.
County Manager, Peter Hynes said he understood the majority of the Baxter cutbacks would be effected through voluntary redundancies.

Northgate jobs
MR Hynes said there was ‘great credit’ due to the local authority’s investment unit for securing the new enterprise at Northgate Information Solutions.
Fine Gael’s Cllr Michael Burke said he wished to congratulate Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his Government on the ‘great job’ they have done regarding economic recovery, as publicised by the Forbes report last week which last week named Ireland ‘the best country for business’.
Welcoming the Northgate jobs, Sinn Fein’s Cllr Rose Conway-Walsh said she was concerned, however, that such developments heralded ‘the further privatisation and outsourcing of work from local authorities’.


Jobs Action Group to be set up after Baxter’s Castlebar job losses

Michael Duffy

A Jobs Action Group is to be set up in Castlebar in the wake of the news that the town’s main employer, Baxter, is to seek 110 voluntary redundancies.
Cllr Therese Ruane had a motion before a previous meeting of Castlebar Town Council with regard to the setting up of a group and the matter was raised again at last week’s monthly meeting, with Cllr Harry Barrett seconding Cllr Ruane’s call for the establishment of an action group or task force to tackle the unemployment issue in the town.
Cllr Barrett said it was encouraging that Northgate were to create 150 jobs over a three year period but even more needed to be done on the jobs front in the county town.
“We ourselves have to sell what we have and insure other companies are looking to take advantage of the qualities we have in our town,” said Cllr Barrett, who called for a suspension of standing orders at the meeting to discuss the Baxter job cuts announcement.
Cllr Ruane said the Baxter news was devastating for some families in the town so close to Christmas and she believed it was time to set up a Jobs Action Group so a plan of action could be put in place.
Cllr Ger Deere, who is a former employee of Baxter, said it was disappointing that jobs were being lost but he said it was important to point out that Baxter were committed to Castlebar and were investing €7 to €9 million in their plant next year.
Cllr Deere felt it was also important to engage with other leading business men in the town who had set up the Mayo Knowledge Group, naming two former Baxter executives, Tommy Kavanagh and John Caulfield, along with Peter Glynn and Dom Molloy, as they too were doing work behind the scenes trying to attract jobs to the town.
Cllr Frank Durcan said he felt there was a lot of ‘hypocrisy’ coming from members of the Fine Gael and Labour party as they were in Government and in a position to bring jobs to the town. Cllr Durcan said the reality was he himself had tried to open a business that would create 150 jobs in Castlebar but he was told it would not get planning permission.
Cllr Brendan Henaghan said it was unfortunate that Baxter had to announce job cuts but health budgets were being cut by Governments all over the world and this was having a knock on effect.
Mayor of Castlebar, Cllr Noreen Heston, said her heart went out to the families who were effected by the jobs cuts and she hoped that the setting up of a task force could tackle the problems of unemployment in the town of Castlebar head on.

“Time we set the record straight - for Castlebar and the world” – Deere

Opinion
Cllr Ger Deere

When you google the words ‘jobs’ and ‘Castlebar’ you are immediately drawn into a negative campaign waged by Councillor Harry Barrett over the last number of months. Anointed a ‘prominent jobs campaigner’ by some local media outlets, it is worth stepping back and reflecting on the damage Barrett is actually inflicting upon the county town’s reputation, not only locally, but in the global era of foreign direct investment, internationally.
With local press now available at the touch of a button the persistent negativity has the potential of reaching those in charge of very powerful FDI companies in Ireland but more importantly and more damagingly, it can just as easily reach the offices of potential international investors to this town.
It’s time those in opposition, which, curiously, Harry Barrett seems to believe he is, as a member of the Government Labour Party, adopted the ‘can-do’ attitude of the Government. Mayo and Castlebar are potential sites for any inward investment to this country and the decision will ultimately lie with someone unaware of, and uninterested in local elections. When that person decides to research our town I want them to find a positive community.
A Castlebar of the future must be one that believes in ourselves and our town. We must be a community of can-do opportunism and fresh ideas to keep this commercial centre in the West vibrant. It is high time people stopped damaging our town’s reputation internationally in order to secure a council seat. I want councillors of ideas and positivity and not criticism and personal attacks on our Taoiseach.
I am not asking for an easy pass for an party or any leader. What I am asking for is a end to unnecessary and pointless attacks which damage our town. What I am asking for is ideas and collaboration not self-interest exercises with one eye on next year’s local elections.
This has been a difficult week for Castlebar with  the loss of 110 jobs in Baxter. But the reality of the situation, which I can’t find in any media report, is that by diversifying their business Baxter are securing their future. unfortunately, this time round, Castlebar suffered. But this pain ensures the remaining jobs into the future.
We need another ‘Baxter’ in Castlebar. We are capable of landing it. We have the resources, infrastructure and a willing workforce. This is the message we need to send out. Ar aighd le CaisleΡn an Bharraigh both in our own minds locally and in the minds of investors globally.

MORE See Off the fence by Minister Richard Bruton on Page 29.