Christmas bodyblow for brick factory employees

Communities across north Meath and south Cavan received a devastating pre-Christmas blow this week with news that the Lagan Brick manufacturing plant at Kingscourt, formerly Kingscourt Brick, is to close. Lagan Brick Ltd yesterday (Tuesday) announced it has informed staff at its production facility at Drumgill, Kingscourt, that the facility will be closing with immediate effect, with the loss of 29 jobs. The company said it tried every avenue possible over the course of the last number of months to retain the viability of the business, including proposing a pay reduction to employees, which was rejected. Now, the prevailing economic circumstances and continued downturn in the construction sector has left no option but to close. Cllr Eugene Cassidy has described the news as a dreadful blow to north Meath and the many small villages in the vicinity of Kingscourt with people employed in the firm. "While the company had closed for short periods as a seasonal thing in the past, it is dreadful that it has come to a situation where it is no longer viable to remain open," he said. "With the construction industry downturn, it has emerged as a casualty. Hopefully it will re-open." Workers at Lagan Brick are angry at the manner in which they learned of the closure and are now manning the entrance to the factory on a 24-hour basis to ensure that no stock moves off-site until redundancy and severance terms have been agreed. Solidarity A rota has been drawn up to ensure there are three men present at all times. They have a fire lit in a barrel and locals are dropping off coal and food supplies in solidarity with the men. A meeting was due to take place between the workers' representatives and the company yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon at the factory to negotiate redundancy and severance terms. SIPTU official John Regan, who is representing the workers in talks with the management, said he was outraged at the manner in which the workers were treated in terms of how they heard the news about the closure of the plant. The shop stewards were informed by management at around 4.30pm last Thursday evening and it was then left to them to inform the other workers. Mr Regan said the company is obliged to give 30 days' notice of its intention to close. He also intimated he had informed the company that the workers will be looking for redundancy terms over and above statutory. Mr Regan said they had looked for a commitment that if the bricks on-site and machinery were to be sold, that it would form part of the funding for the severance payment to workers. He stressed that they would not be allowing anything to move off the site until this has been concluded. The company said in a statement that it sincerely regretted having to make the decision, especially at this time of year, but that, unfortunately, deferral of the decision until the New Year simply was not an option. "The company would like to thank its entire staff for their hard work and commitment over the years. We appreciate that this is very difficult news to receive, particularly at this time of the year," the statement added. The company has entered into a 30-day formal consultation process with employee representatives over the terms of the redundancies. Lagan Brick comprises the Lagan companies which previously traded as Kingscourt Brick and Flemings Fireclays. Kingscourt Brick had been producing bricks for over 100 years, while Flemings Fireclays Manufacturing was making chimney products and bricks in County Laois since 1935. Another arm, Barclay Brick, was set up eight years ago to import a range of bricks, clay roof tiles and cladding products. In recent years, the brick manufacturing facility at Kingscourt underwent a major redevelopment programme, and in the first phase of a €1.5m investment, closed for a six-week period to facilitate the first stage of the upgrade. Lagan Brick was a long-established supplier of high-quality clay bricks, renders, hollow clay block and other cladding products to the Irish and UK markets.