Navan 'must have place' in any Quinn restructuring

Fears that all Quinn jobs could be lost to Navan were expressed at a meeting of Navan Town Council last week at which councillors urged the Government and the administrators to ensure the range of skills and the new building built by the Quinn Group in Navan is not lost in efforts to secure the company's future. Councillors supported a motion from Cllr Peadar Tóibín calling on the Government to do everything in its power to save the jobs which are under threat in Navan and they also backed a proposal by Cllr Jim Holloway that the Government and administrtators recognise the importance of retaining the workforce in Navan and to ensure the skills are not lost to the town. Cllr Holloway said the job losses at Quinn was awful news and he pointed out that the wide range of skills of the workers there was unique. He said it was important this was taken on board in the event of Quinn Insurance being taken over by someone else. Cllr Tóibín said that there had been two major jobs blows to Meath in the past week. He said Navan had been hit proportionally worse that any other centre and that a meeting between the town council and Enterprise Ireland scheduled for next month would be very important. "In other areas where jobs have been lost, Enterprise Ireland has come in and surveyed the people who lost jobs and sought solutions," he said, He added it was important that they now come up with a solution for Navan. Cllr Shane Cassells stressed the importance of protecting employment and commented that the opportunity for job creation was minimal in the current economic climate. Cllr Anton McCabe said 53 per cent of the workforce were losing their jobs and they did not have union representation when it came to redundancy. The Mayor, Cllr Joe Reilly, said the Quinn complex in Navan was build for 700 people and, with the workforce reduction to 100, it would be tempting in any restructuring to move the jobs in Navan elsewhere. "We will have a battle on our hands to convince the new owners that Navan should have a place in the reconstruction of the company," he said.