The announcement today that Cadbury Ireland may cut up to 200 jobs at their Coolock and Rathmore sites is devastating news for the workers at Cadburys and the wider community.

Just three years ago in October 2006 a three year programme involving the loss of 450 jobs was announced by the company and the further proposed 200 job losses is a shocking development. It is very worrying to see these ongoing job losses at such critical centres of local employment. The latest proposed job losses will reduce the combined workforces in Dublin and Kerry to around 900.

Cadbury Ireland has strong ties to Dublin’s Northside and has long been a key employer in the Coolock area. The company was well known for providing secure manufacturing jobs for many local people and many of the most famous Cadbury’s brands were developed at the Coolock plant.

Cadbury’s senior management are blaming the job losses on the Euro/Sterling differential given that over 75% of Cadbury’s products in Coolock go to the UK. But it is also notable that some Cadbury production has gone to a new plant in Egypt. Cadbury have suggested that €20 million will now be invested in the Coolock and Rathmore factories but three years ago there was also supposed to be major investment in the company in Ireland.

The appalling news today from Cadbury has come on the back of the recent devastating job losses at SR Technics in Dublin Airport and similar job losses in North Kerry. Unemployment has risen by nearly 100% since ’07 at local Coolock and Kilbarrack Unemployment Exchanges. I have previously been very critical of the failure of the Fianna Fail-led government and the IDA to stem the haemorrhaging of manufacturing employment in the Northside region and to attract alternative employment to the area.

I intend to ask the Taoiseach and Tanaiste to address the fallout from the proposed job losses at Cadbury in Coolock and Rathmore and the ongoing jobs crisis on Dublin’s Northside as a matter of priority in Dail Eireann tomorrow morning. I am now also appealing to Cadbury to fully consult with their workforce and their trade union representatives and to explore all possible ways of retaining these vitally important jobs in Dublin and Kerry.