February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The closure is a major economic setback for Ballinasloe, which has already suffered substantial jobs losses because of the downturn.
Tanaiste Mary Harney, who was born in Ballinasloe, expressed her shock at the closure. She pledged to use every facility at her disposal in order to encourage alternative investment to locate there.
“I am not going to pretend that finding new investment and providing new sources of employment in Ballinasloe will be easy, but I pledge to do everything that I can to see that it happens,” she said.
Attempts to attract companies to the town had so far failed. The IDA is seeking permission to construct a 27,000-square-foot technology unit in its local business park.
Many husband-and-wife teams worked in the Square D plant. The timings of the shift system were designed to allow one partner to sign off for the day and the other partner to start the next shift. In some cases up to four members of the same family will be made redundant.
Square D, which has been in the town for over 30 years, blamed a drop in demand for its circuit breakers for the decision.
The company is owned by the French group Schneider Electric. Most of current production goes to the U.S.
Fine Gael TD Paul Connaughton said the closure as “the most brutal blow the town of Ballinasloe has ever had to endure.” He said the effect of the closure was the equivalent to the loss of over 2,000 jobs in Dublin.
In six years, the town of 6,000 will have lost more than 1,000 jobs. He said that in the last 30 years the IDA created only 20 jobs locally.