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"Govt failed Fruit of the Loom
workers" - SF
15.02.10
SINN Féin Councillor
Pádraig MacLochlainn has again demanded to know why
the Government failed to deliver millions in
European funding for Fruit of the Loom workers who
lost their jobs in Donegal.
He described as "a scandal" the Government’s
failure, at the time of the redundancies, to seek
monies under the European Globalisation Adjustment
Fund (EGF). And he repeated his call last night for
a special fund from Government to compensate the
affected Donegal workers for their loss. |
“I have now waited
months for An Tánaiste to explain her Government’s
inaction in 2006. Her silence and repeated refusal
to answer the tough questions shows that her
Government failed thousands of Fruit of the Loom
workers," said Cllr MacLochlainn.
“In December 2005, the European Council agreed to
introduce the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
with millions of euro in support for workers who had
lost their jobs due to the global economy. Here in
Donegal, the impact of Fruit of the Loom’s decision
to relocate their operations to Morocco devastated |
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the region with the loss of
thousands of jobs in Malin Head, Milford, Raphoe,
and Buncrana as well as Derry."
He accused the Fianna Fáil-led administration of
failing to ensure the EGF would apply to the Donegal
workers before it came into statute in late 2006.
"The scale of the Government’s remarkable neglect of
the Donegal workers is demonstrated by the fact that
the then Enterprise Minister Micháel Martin came to
Donegal in July 2006 to launch his much trumpeted
'Interdepartmental Report' aimed at addressing
Donegal’s ongoing economic crisis at the time.
"Flanked by Mary Coughlan and the other Donegal
Fianna Fáil deputies, he assured us that they were
focused on addressing our needs. We now know that
Donegal wasn’t a priority for them at all," added
the Buncrana-based councillor.
Cllr MacLochlainn said the 1,900 workers who
recently lost their jobs at the Dell plant in
Limerick would now benefit from an estimated €5,000
each from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
(EGF) for retraining and new business start-ups.
"€15 million in total has been allocated to the
former Dell workers. I genuinely wish them well.
However, workers in Donegal should have enjoyed the
same assistance and the Government must now
compensate them and give them the supports they
deserve," he added. |
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