Government should have acted sooner to secure future of Dell – BREEN.

December 29th, 2008 - Pat Breen
Fine Gael’s Deputy Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Clare T.D. Pat Breen said today that the Government should have acted sooner to secure the future of Dell in stead of making an eleventh hour flight to Texas claiming that Ireland has been losing jobs to competition from Eastern Europe and the Far East and the Governments only response has been to drive up costs and impose higher stealth taxes. He is calling on the Taoiseach and the Government to explore every avenue to "secure the maximum number of jobs here in the Region" adding that "it is a very worrying time for Dell employees and their families".
"Dells importance to this Region cannot be understated. Since it located in Ireland in 1990 it has become the biggest foreign direct investment since Henry Ford, located a plant in County Cork. The Company contributes at 5.5 per cent of Irish exports, 2 per cent of GDP and over 4 per cent of all expenditure in the Irish economy. It is estimated that 6 in every 100 people here in the Mid-West Region are reliant on Dell for an income."

"Speculation has been rampant in the past 12 months that Dell was moving their operations to Lodz in Poland and only last month 400 temporary employees at the plant were let go. The Government should have acted sooner in stead of taking an eleventh hour flight to Texas."

"Ireland has become one of the highest priced countries in the Eurozone and Irish inflation has been higher that the EU average for the last six years. The cost of insurance, energy, telecommunications, and logistics are just some of the factors that have driven down competitiveness and the reality is that the Government has done nothing to address these issues."

"This is a very worrying Christmas for the Dell workers and their families many of whom live and commute from Clare to their Raheen facility every day. I would appeal to the Government not to leave any stone unturned in their efforts to keep Dell in this Region. Should Dell decide to plough ahead with this move it will have catastrophic consequences for Clare and the Mid-West."

ENDS.