Political Representatives Concerned at Armagh Job Losses

By Christine Keighery

Political representatives in the region voiced their concerns at the loss of over 340 jobs in the past fortnight in the Armagh area.

Three firms announced closures in the area.  Noel Zwecker International Transport announced 50 posts were to go followed by Unicorn Mouldings Ltd, a tile manufacturer in Markethill, who revealed early last week that they would be making 36 redundancies.

The latest blow to the local economy came when HCL BPO call centre operators announced the closure of all operations in Armagh, resulting in 170 job losses.

Speaking after the HCL announcement last Tuesday, Sinn Fein’s Cathal Boylan said: “This announcement is a blow to the local economy and comes only days after a number of other job losses in the Armagh area including 36 posts at Unicorn Mouldings and 50 posts at Noel Zwecker International Transport.

“In hard economic times this will leave many families in a precarious position when trying to make ends meet which is very concerning.

“I am calling for a cross departmental approach in order to establish a task force to mitigate the effect of these losses and ensure that there is a jobs strategy put in place for the greater Armagh area.”

Mr Boylan’s Assembly colleague and MP for Newry Armagh, Conor Murphy, scheduled an urgent meeting with Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster to enquire as to what action the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment will take to offset the impact of the job losses on the community in Armagh.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Murphy said, “The loss of employment is a terrible blow to all of the families in the Armagh area affected by these recent announcements.  I will wait to hear what the Minister has to say when my colleague Cathal Boylan and I meet with her this afternoon and, if necessary, schedule a meeting with the management of HCL BPO and Minister Foster.”

The SDLP were similarly concerned and called for a Jobs Action Plan for Armagh.

SDLP Assembly Member for Newry and Armagh, Dominic Bradley MLA commenting on the announcements from Unicorn Mouldings and HCL, said the news was “a devastating blow to the economy in the Armagh area and my heart goes out to those families who are coming to terms with this news.  Employees at both these sites were faced with a similar situation a few years back but on those occasions jobs were saved.  We are now in a completely different economic climate and a very different situation for both these companies.”

He too stressed that he would be discussing the matter with Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster, and would be requesting a visit to Armagh by the Minister, to meet with Assembly, Council and Business leaders to discuss attracting jobs back into the local economy.

“We all need to work collectively to develop a jobs action plan for Armagh and to try and bring these people back to work.’

SDLP Group Leader on Armagh City & District Council, Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon called for urgent action from Stormont to help areas like Armagh.

Speaking on Tuesday after the HCL announcement, Councillor O’Hanlon said:

“This is a very dark day for Armagh and we need all the help and support from Stormont to try and mitigate these job losses.  Jobs are not easy come by in today’s economic climate and tonight there are families across this city and district in despair.  They just do not know where to turn to.  Most of the jobs in HCL are at or just above the Minimum wage, so the transfer to their site in Belfast is not really an option for many.

“Armagh is like every other town or city across the north and is feeling the impact of the recession, and with its location as a border area, I would argue that we are feeling the pinch more than most.  In recent months we have seen some good news on the jobs front, with some announcements of jobs in and around Belfast, but this is of little comfort to the families in Armagh tonight.  When Ministers talk of attracting inward investment, we need to remind them that we need jobs outside of Belfast.

He hailed the Taoiseach and the Irish Government’s plans to create 100,000 jobs by 2016, as the “reality check we all need and we need an All-Ireland Jobs taskforce, we need to see greater cross border cooperation and where better to start that cooperation than in border areas like Armagh.’

Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Newry & Armagh, Danny Kennedy MLA, also expressed his serious concern at the job losses saying they would have a “devastating impact on the workforce and the local community” and pledged his full commitment to any efforts aimed at bringing a successful conclusion to the difficult situation.