10th July 2002

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Where has all the wealth gone???

Cllr Dessie Ellis has called for action on the growing economic crisis following news of the closure of two factories on the Jamestown Rd Industrial Estate in Finglas.

"43 workers at the former Unidare plant, which was recently bought out by John Garland and SAS, have been laid off as the new owners stopped production of steel rods, importing them from Eastern Europe instead. The workers, who are members of SIPTU, have been offered only the bare minimum statutory redundancies with a vague promise of more if the factory's assets are sold. But these are virtually worthless. There are also difficulties over workers' pensions because of the change in ownership."

"Meanwhile, workers at the nearby Tinsley Wire factory have been told that their workplace is to close by Christmas. Cllr Ellis observed "The exact number of jobs to be lost is not definite yet, but there is clearly a trend of job losses, which the outgoing government failed to mention before the last election. There are many reasons for the downturn in the economy, but many of them are related:

Failure by the FF/PD government to invest the wealth generated by Irish workers during the last 10 years, preferring instead to give tax breaks and amnesties to their rich donors; . The tax evasion and avoidance by wealthy groups such as businessmen, accountants, lawyers, the medical profession, etc; . The fraud and misreporting being carried out by directors and auditors of big companies like Enron, Worldcom, Vivendi, Elan, etc.

"It is time that there was proper regulation of all of these "self-regulating" professions so that Irish workers' efforts are not criminally squandered and Irish consumers are not blatantly ripped off."

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