THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the release of €2.57 million to help find new employment for 598 workers who lost their jobs when Waterford Crystal went into receivership last year.
The money comes from a dedicated EU fund which helps people who lose their jobs due to the impact of globalisation. On top of the commission’s contribution, the Government will provide €1.38 million.
The money can be used to help dismissed workers to undertake training programmes, including third level degrees. It can also be used to pay for occupational guidance and to help start businesses.
Employment and social affairs commissioner Laszlo Andor attributed the company’s failure to the rapid decline in demand for non-essential goods and the company’s failure to raise necessary capital, both consequences of the financial and economic crisis.
The factory’s closure is estimated to have led to a drop of at least €40 million in annual personal consumption in Waterford with a potential knock-on impact on local employment, he said.
“The crisis has hit Waterford particularly badly because the fall in consumer purchasing power led to a drop in demand for luxury items like crystal glass. The globalization fund will help cushion this dramatic change by helping workers better prepare for and find new opportunities,” said the commission.
The Government applied for funding to help 653 workers who were made redundant, 627 of them from Waterford Crystal and 26 from three of its suppliers.
Mr Andor’s spokeswoman told reporters the entire request was not met because some workers had found new jobs and others were not returning to the workforce as they were due to retire. Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly said he was making the case to the commission to provide further aid to workers dismissed from Waterford Crystal’s suppliers.
He called for swift passage of the file through the European Parliament and said local enterprise boards, Waterford Institute of Technology and Fás should now prepare programmes for the recipients of the funding.