The announcement yesterday that Donegal-based yarn manufacturer, Comerama, is to put its 190 employees on protective notice marks the latest in a series of lay-offs to hit Ireland's biggest Gaeltacht.
Following meetings yesterday between union representatives and the receiver, Farrell Grant Sparks, it emerged that only 30 employees will be retained on a day-to-day basis following the closure for annual holidays later this month.
While the receiver is looking for a potential buyer to take over the firm as a going concern, the workforce is not optimistic.
The Gweedore Industrial Estate - the biggest of its kind in any Gaeltacht - has been hit by a series of lay-offs over the past two years. The total number employed on the industrial estate has dropped from more than 1,300 at its peak to fewer than 700 before the Comerama losses.
"What is most disheartening and discouraging is the palatable pessimism out there," commented Mr Dinny McGinley, Fine Gael TD for Donegal South West. Calling on Údaras na Gaeltachta and the Government to make every effort to help find a buyer, he said it was his understanding that there was a demand for the yarn in Europe, where there was a shortage of capacity. He intends raising the matter in the Dáil today.
Most job losses on the Gweedore Industrial Estate have been in the manufacturing sector. Flagship firms like Ruibear Motair Teoranta, which once employed 200, have shut, while other firms have trimmed their workforces.
Last year Comerama, which is owned by the Asian conglomerate Indorama Inc, closed a mill in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny.
Staff at the Donegal plant were asked to take a pay cut as part of a restructuring plan but they rejected the proposal.