Three firms shed 200 workers in one day
Wednesday November 12 2008
Galway and Westmeath suffered jobs blows yesterday with the news that more than 200 jobs are to be lost across three companies.
In Galway, all 90 full-time and 26 contract jobs at Inter Group Insurance Services (IGIS), based at the Ballybrit Business Park on the outskirts of Galway city, will be lost over the coming months.
And wholesale distribution company the BWG group, which owns Spar, told their 82-strong staff they are seeking 55 voluntary redundancies.
The losses come days after 138 job losses were announced at the APW plant in Oranmore.
Meanwhile, Iralco in Collinstown, Co Westmeath, which was purchased by Galway-based company C&F Tooling, has confirmed 48 job losses as part of its plan to save the business.
More than 300 workers remain at the factory, which has been making automotive parts in Ireland since 1964.
In Galway, IGIS confirmed that it would close its Galway office by the middle of next year. IGIS is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and operates as a third-party administrator for travel insurance policies, mainly in the UK market.
The company was established in Galway in 1998 and three years later was acquired by Churchill Insurance. It became part of the insurance division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group in 2003 when RBS acquired Churchill.
Head of IGIS Bob Andrews said yesterday: "The announcement of the proposal to close the Galway site is due to a fundamental shift in the insurance outsourcing market in the last few years.
"Major clients of Inter Group Insurance Services have recently taken their travel insurance business back in-house and sadly, we have no alternative but to make this announcement today.
"We explored every possible avenue before reaching this unfortunate decision."
The company added that all employees would be invited to apply for alternative jobs within the group and discussions would be entered into on the process of redundancy and closure. Workers were yesterday briefed on the situation by company management, but refused to make any comment to waiting media as they left the plant last evening.
Last night, Mayor of Galway Padraig Conneely described the latest job losses as "a serious blow" to the city.
"It is now up to the IDA to show its mettle. It is one thing developing jobs during a boom, but they now need to be creative in bad times."
At Iralco, managing director Tom Hyland said the cuts were part of the "final phase" of the rationalisation plan agreed with workers following the take over by C&F Tooling.
"The timing was unfortunate with the downturn but the rationalisation plan is on target. We just need to get past Christmas now. Unfortunately, globally the car industry is down and it's had a knock-on effect already," he added.
Meanwhile, 35 jobs will be created at a cosmetics company in Wicklow.
The high-skilled scientific positions will be rolled out over the next five years at Oriflame Cosmetics in Bray following a €2.4m investment in its new research and development centre.
- Eimear Ni Bhraonain and Brian McDonald
