Statement by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, TD

December 4th 2007

The announcement by Abbot Ireland that it plans to close its plant in Galway represents a major blow for the 498 workers employed there.

My first concern is for these workers and their families. The job creation agencies of the State will be offering the workers every assistance in the weeks and months ahead in order to ensure that they can find replacement employment.

The fact that the company has also offered to find replacement employment for the Galway based workers in its other Irish facilities and has committed to provide competitive redundancy terms as well as outplacement and financial advisory services is also to be welcomed.

Despite this announcement which is due to excess capacity internationally, Abbot continues to have a strong presence in Ireland and remains one of our major employers. The company continues to employ over 3,000 people in Sligo, Longford, Clonmel, Donegal and Cavan.

It is also worth noting that Abbot continues to list Ireland as one of its key locations internationally and its other Irish operations will continue to play a significant role in the corporation.