JUST WEEKS after revealing plans to upgrade the Tarbert power station in Co Kerry, Spanish energy company Endesa Ireland has caused dismay by announcing plans to cut its workforce.
The Spanish company, which bought the former ESB electricity generating station two years ago, has entered into talks with unions to cut the company’s workforce at Tarbert from 90 to 55.
It is understood that Endesa may also look for a cut in staff at its plant in Great Island in Wexford.
Three weeks ago plans by Endesa to upgrade and convert the diesel-powered station at Tarbert to a gas-powered facility were deemed to be a strategic infrastructure development of national importance to energy supply. This means the application will go straight to An Bord Pleanála, and will not have to be decided on by the county council.
The company has told An Bord Pleanála it is to lodge an application before Christmas, a spokesman for the planning board said yesterday.
The application for the major upgrade, which will employ hundreds of workers during construction, will have to be accompanied by an environmental impact study (EIS).
The plan to cut jobs has been met with dismay in north Kerry, which has already lost hundreds of jobs this year.
North Kerry Sinn Féin deputy Martin Ferris accused the Government of “abandoning” north Kerry for a quarter of a century.
Fine Gael deputy Jimmy Deenihan said north Kerry should have been included in the mid-west taskforce set up in the wake of the closure of computer manufacturer Dell. He said unemployment in the area stretching from Tralee to Tarbert had doubled in the past two years.
John Fox, of Tarbert Development Association, said 240 people had been employed at Tarbert Island five or six years ago, but the workforce had been gradually reduced over the years. It was down to 126 last year.
The Tarbert upgrade, which is expected to reduce C02 emissions from the plant by 50 per cent, is due to be in operation by 2012, with phase two to begin four years later.
Plans for a regasification terminal by the company Shannon LNG on part of a Shannon Development-owned land bank have already been approved. This will see the Tarbert and Ballylongford area of the Shannon Estuary become an energy hub.