It has come to my attention (on Wednesday night) that there is a threat to up to 20 jobs at the Berendsen Distribution plant in Roscommon Town.The plant at Athlone Road was formerly known as Spring Grove. I understand that the Dutch parent company informed the workers earlier on Wednesday of it’s intention to close the facility in October. The company distribute linen, towels and hygiene equipment to businesses in the region and the majority of the employees are employed at drivers and in the stores. I also understand that it is planned to move this business elsewhere to outlets such as Dublin and Cork.
Roscommon Town can ill afford to lose 20 jobs and I am calling on my constituency colleague Minister Naughten to use his good offices to address this serious situation as soon as possible and to contact the relevant Government agencies immediately. Moving this operation to Dublin or Cork is not much good to the people who are to lose their jobs and I will be contacting the company on Thursday to arrange an immediate meeting to see if this situation can be averted. There are so few people in employment in private businesses in rural towns like Roscommon it would be a disaster if 20 jobs were to be lost. We have to everything in our power to try to save these jobs being lost,