Belmullet’s largest employer to close

Belmullet’s largest employer to close


Anton McNulty

EIGHTY-two workers in a Belmullet call-centre are to lose their jobs after they were informed by ICT Eurotel Ltd that they propose to close the facility on October 1, 2009.
The company is Belmullet’s largest employer and currently employs 39 full-time and 43 part-time staff and provides quality assurance services for companies within the ICT group. A letter to employees states: “We are proposing to close this facility effective October 1, 2009.”
The company has received €1.8 million in support from Údarás na Gaeltachta since it set up in June 2002. In February of 2008, fears grew for the future of the call-centre when senior executives arrived from the US and the UK, but the centre was saved at the eleventh hour.
Fine Gael Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs Spokesman, Mayo Deputy Michael Ring today (Wednesday) said the loss of 80 jobs with the closure of Eurotel Marketing in the Belmullet is a blow to the Mayo Gaeltacht and the prospects for new jobs are bleak.
“The harsh reality is that, even if a new business wanted to create 1,000 jobs in the area, Údarás has no funding to put in the resources for such a development so the prospects for job creation are bleak,” he said.