Newry printing plant closure a ‘severe blow’ to Northern Ireland print sector, says Unite

The closure of Mediahuis’s last printing plant in Ireland, located in Newry, will be a “major blow” to the print sector in Northern Ireland and could have a “ripple effect” on the rest of the industry, trade union Unite said on Tuesday.

The shutdown of the plant, earmarked for January, will result in the loss of 46 jobs. Unite, which represents the majority of the workforce, is now engaged in a redundancy consultation process with the hope of avoiding the closure.

The Newry facility is the only one in the North that can utilise both “heatset press” and “dual-web” techniques, while its shutdown will also remove backup print capacity and leave newspapers with reduced contingency options should there be problems at other plants, Unite said.

“If this closure proceeds, it will be another blow to the Newry economy and to the print sector generally. While we will be seeking to maximise redundancy payments, our first priority is saving these jobs and this productive capacity,” said Unite regional officer Neil Moore.

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[ State-of-the-art becomes sign of times as Mediahuis closes its last Irish printing plant ]

Mr Moore also questioned the timing of the announcement of the closure plans, which came as Mediahuis Ireland and other publishers in the Republic received a cut in VAT from 9 per cent to 0 per cent on print and digital newspapers.

Belgian-owned Mediahuis Ireland, the company formerly known as Independent News & Media (INM), said last week that as “a direct consequence of escalating costs”, including the cost of distributing newspapers printed in Newry, it had decided to close the plant and outsource its printing requirements.

Printing of the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent national titles as well as a number of regional newspapers will transfer to The Irish Times printing plant in Citywest, Dublin, from January under a new deal between the two companies.

The Irish Times already prints the Mediahuis’s Sunday World and Herald titles. The printing of the Belfast Telegraph, meanwhile, is set to move to Belfast-based Interpress, part of the Irish News group.