Animal testing lab to close in Erris with loss of 20 jobs

20 jobs to be lost in Erris


Áine Ryan

AN animal testing laboratory is set to close in north-west Mayo with the loss of over 20 jobs, The Mayo News can reveal. Just a month after animal rights activists staged a protest at a Mayo County Council meeting over its decision to grant Charles River Laboratories a dog-breeding licence, the multinational company whose headquarters is in Massachusetts, confirmed the upcoming closure yesterday (Monday).
“Through our ongoing efficiency initiative programme, we have made the decision to close our facility in Glenamoy, Ireland. As a result, we are centralising our Veterinary Pharmaceutical services at other locations within the Charles River network,” Amy Cianciaruso, a spokeswoman said in a statement.
“As part of the closure, we are working with employees to ensure appropriate support and resources are in place as they seek new employment opportunities, both within and outside the company. Charles River has a deep commitment to animal welfare and we are in the process of developing a programme to re-home our animals,“ she continued.
Ms Cianciaruso declined to clarify if there would be also job losses at its Ballina facility but sources known to The Mayo News say there are planned cutbacks of some ten jobs there too.
It is not clear if staff at Glenamoy will be offered redeployment to a larger facility in Ballina, where some 115 people are employed.
“We are in the consultation phase and I will have more information once that is completed,” she said.
The Mayo News understands that staff at the Glenamoy plant were given the news of the closure on Friday last and told they would be receiving written confirmation in the coming days. The Glenamoy facility is adjacent to the controversial Corrib Gas refinery site at Bellanaboy.    

Signatories
Last month members of animal rights group, People Against Cruelty to Animals (PACA) staged a peaceful protest at Mayo County Council’s monthly meeting, which was being held at Nevin’s Bar and Restaurant, Tiernaur, near Mulranny, to mark the end of Cllr Michael Holmes’s tenure as Cathaoirleach
Addressing the meeting, PACA spokeswoman, Saoirse O’Dowd told councillors ‘the group was upset that the council had granted a licence to the company in order to breed 200 bitches under the Dog Breeding Establishment Act’. She said PACA had gathered 16,000 signatures calling on the council to revoke the licence as they strongly believed the company would use the dogs for animal testing.  
“The lab is notorious for animal cruelty, it has 42 violations of the animal welfare act in the US. Animals are considered man’s best friend, yet we seem to disrespect their worth,” Ms O’Dowd told the meeting.
Responding yesterday to the news, Erris-based Senator Rose Conway-Walsh (Sinn Féin) said she was ‘alarmed and concerned that Charles River were unable to stand over the practises that so many individuals and organisations questioned in relation to cruelty to animals’.
“We can ill-afford to lose scarce jobs in Erris but we must be assured that at all times companies operate with transparency and integrity. We desperately need employment opportunities in Erris. I continue to demand that Government and agencies of the State focus on creating sustainable jobs in Mayo and Erris,” Ms Conway-Walsh said.  
“The savagery of emigration and neglect has to be addressed as a matter of urgency, I have raised this on a weekly basis with relevant ministers, who come before us in the Seanad,” she continued.