CATHAORIELACH OF THE REGIONAL AUTHORITY CALLS FOR URGENT INTERVENTION IN THE SOUTH-EAST REGION AS MASSIVE JOB LOSSES ARE ANNOUNCED AT TALK TALK CALL CENTRE IN WATERFORD CITY
“I am shocked and saddened by the announcement that Talk Talk will be closing its Waterford City call centre within the next month resulting in 575 job losses. This is a devastating blow to the staff at the facility and is another huge hit to the local and regional economy”, stated Cllr. Willie Quinn, Cathaoirleach of the South-East Regional Authority, in reaction to the announcement today by the company that it will be closing the call centre.
The Regional Authority Cathaoirleach said that these job losses will have a severe impact on the South-East which has not yet come to terms with many other recent redundancies. Cllr. Quinn stated: “The closure of this facility must be viewed in the context of the South-East Region’s loss of a significant number of jobs in recent times and the ongoing poor employment performance of the Region”.
The most recent unemployment figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the South-East has the highest unemployment rate of the eight Irish regions, currently standing at 17.2%. “This rate is very significantly higher than the national unemployment rate. This region is not getting the attention it deserves from government and the industrial development agencies. This simply cannot continue and must be addressed in a coherent, focused and urgent way by the main jobs and enterprise support agencies”, stated Cllr. Quinn.
Senior executives from IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Forfás attended a recent meeting of the Regional Authority and briefed the members on their policies and strategies for promoting enterprise and investment in the South-East Region. “At that meeting, the members impressed on the executives the very poor situation in the Region and called on them to intensify their efforts to promote the South-East Region for investment and job creation. I now re-iterate this call for prioritised investment in the Region”, Cllr. Quinn stated.
The Regional Authority has consistently identified and articulated the deficiencies, development needs and investment priorities of the region and the Authority has been working with the various public and private sector bodies in the region to develop and implement strategies to address the region’s socio-economic problems.
Cllr. Quinn commented that he sympathised with the employees of Talk Talk, many of who have been working in the call centre for a number of years, in losing their jobs. “I am calling on the Government to deliver balanced regional development and immediately direct all the enterprise promotion and support agencies to make the South-East Region their top priority”, he said.
ENDS
07/09/2011
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Further information from:
- Cllr. Willie Quinn, Cathaoirleach, South-East Regional Authority
059-9773500 or 086-1659115
- Mr. Thomas Byrne, Director, South-East Regional Authority
052-6126200
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 BST
