Tánaiste welcomes Diageo proposal

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan said the decision by Diageo to invest over €650 million in its brewing operations in Ireland would “secure “the future of brewing in Ireland.”

Ms Coughlan said she was particularly pleased that brewing would be retained at the St James’s Gate brewery which she described as of “of great historic significance to Dublin”.

She added that it was important to start work immediately to minimise the impact of the 250 job losses.

Turlough O'Sullivan, director general of IBEC described Diageo’s decision as a “massive vote of confidence in Ireland as a location for business and in Irish workers”.

He said the investment was the biggest single investment in the history of the food and drink sector and was a crucial boost to the export sector.

“It is a great encouragement for the Irish manufacturing sector and secures the production of Guinness and other products in this country for the future,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

Willie Penrose, Labour Party spokesman on Enterprise Trade and Employment, said the loss of 250 jobs in Dundalk and Kilkenny was a blow to local economies in the and was a further decline in manufacturing employment.

He said Diageo was a very profitable company and in that context no changes should be implemented without agreement from workers.

“I welcome the commitment by Diageo that affected employees will be offered relocation opportunities, severance packages and career counselling, but I will be looking for assurances that job losses will be kept to minimum.”

Siptu said that any Diageo redundancies must be voluntary.

Branch organiser John Dunne said the union would seek to minimise the impact of the plans on members, although he accepted that staff represented by other unions where more directly affected.

“We will be working closely with the Guinness Workers' Union, TEEU and Unite to ensure that employees’ interests are protected during the restructuring. I will be meeting with Siptu members shortly to brief them on the situation.