Danny Healy Rae says the loss of 210 jobs in Kerry is 'akin to bombing of Pearl Harbour'

A Kerry TD has likened the loss of 210 jobs in Tralee to the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

Speaking in Dáil Eireann today, Danny Healy-Rae TD said that the closure of Borg Warner, a motor part plant, came as a shock to the county.

He said that this is like the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941 which saw 2,400 people die and US declaring war on Japan.

“This bombshell happened a couple of days ago and has really taken the workers in the town of Tralee by real surprise, it was like something akin to the bombing of Pearl Harbour,” he said.

The Kerryman reported yesterday that the closure came as a complete shock to the community, the IDA and staff.

Workers were told on Tuesday at a town hall meeting that most of the work will be wound down by Christmas and the plant will shut completely by March 2021.

The company said the decision wasn't related to the pandemic and was a result of "declining customer demand for air heaters, which no longer supports the need for a standalone manufacturing facility."

“Tánaiste, we have a serious jobs crisis in Kerry,” Deputy Healy-Rae told the Dáil today.

“This amount of jobs being lost in Kerry, which has a population of roughly 150,000, this would equate to 2,100 or 2,200 in the greater Dublin area.

“So if that happened here, I know that every Minister and Taoiseach would be out doing something about it.

“This is an awful blow to these workers.

“These job losses come as part of other job losses,” he added.

“This has been a massive attack and has been a serious loss to business in Tralee.”

Mr Healy-Rae added that an emergency jobs taskforce to address the “jobs crisis in Kerry” and invited a Minister to visit Kerry and meet the workers.