65 jobs lost in East Mayo
65 jobs lost in East Mayo
'Bleak day' for Kiltimagh and Ballyhaunis
Edwin McGreal
Communities across East Mayo were reeling when news of the loss of 65 Mayo jobs at Homecare Medical Supplies was confirmed by the company yesterday (Monday).
Kiltimagh has to face the loss of 50 jobs at the Homecare Medical service centre on the Knock Road while 15 jobs will go at the Ballyhaunis centre on the Knock Road. A further 15 jobs will go at other Homecare centres in other parts of the country, meaning a total of 80 jobs in total will be lost nationwide.
The company, run by the McGuinness family from Knock, supplies healthcare equipment to the HSE, hospitals, nursing homes and the community-care, pharmacy and retail sectors.
Homecare Medical announced to staff on Friday last that from January 31 next, its HSE contract for the recycling of aids and appliances will be terminated.
They said this would lead to a lack of work, which would necessitate the redundancy of 80 positions in the company's service area.
Joe Kelly of development company Kiltimagh IRD, who last week spoke out in The Mayo News about the problems facing small towns like Kiltimagh, greeted the news with dismay, saying it only served to heighten the problems.
"Any time you lose 50 jobs from a small, weak local economy is a bleak day," he told The Mayo News. "My sympathy really goes to the workers who have found out that they will be facing into Christmas knowing that they are not going to be in a job shortly into the New Year. My sympathy also goes to the McGuinness family, who run a good business.
"We're now in a situation where we have to try to replace 50 jobs, and not alone that, but there could be another 50 jobs at stake as a knock-on effect in retail and services – jobs that rely on those 50 people spending money locally.
"I really think it is up to the Government to step up to the plate and find a solution. There are still three months before these jobs go, so they can look at intervening there, or they can look at finding replacement jobs fairly rapidly. Things are certainly bleak enough right now, but we have to keep fighting the fight, keep trying," he said.
Shock
Kiltimagh-based Fine Gael councillor Eugene Lavin said there was a sense of shock around the town yesterday when the news started to break.
"It is a serious blow to Kiltimagh and to Mayo. This is a major blow. We're all devastated in the town and in the wider region. Ballyhaunis is less than 15 miles away, so it is a double blow for the region," he told The Mayo News.
"I didn't see it coming, I thought things were going very well there. They had expanded their business in the last year. But I am not au fait with how these HSE contracts work.
"I would fully approve of what Joe Kelly and Kiltimagh IRD would have to say in terms of highlighting the demise of the small town. Footfall is a big thing for people wanting to set up a business, and if the people are not in the town centre, is the incentive there to open? I certainly think that the Government has to intervene. A cut in rates – or no rates at all – for businesses in town centres would be a great incentive for new businesses."
In a statement yesterday, Homecare Medical stressed that, while the contract loss affects a large portion of the workforce, it only accounts for part of its business, and that the remaining 70 jobs at the company will remain unaffected.
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