Strike threat emerges as Kells staff told centre will close

Staff at the Kells Heritage Centre could be balloted for strike action over the proposed closure of the facility unless there are meaningful talks with Kells Town Council on the issue, the SIPTU trade union has warned. As the town council prepares to hold a special meeting on the future of the centre on Friday evening, the union has warned that its members who work there would be given the option to take strike action. Workers at the centre were informed on Thursday that the centre will close from this Sunday, 30th August. "The town council has not engaged with us and there has been a breach of procedure," according to SIPTU branch secretary, John Regan. He said the union was due to meet council officials on Friday morning, but if the discussions were not meaningful, the workers would have the option to ballot for strike action. "They have spoken about redeploying staff but they haven't told us what sort of redeployment this would be or whether it would be reasonable. This leaves the closure date unacceptable," he said. Kells Town Clerk Jarlath Flanagan said that the town council was actively engaged with staff and the union in relation to the closure and a special meeting was being held on Friday to discuss the future of the facility. He said that the running of the centre had been costing €100,000 per year and, last December, councillors allocated just €50,000 towards the running of the centre when they adopted their budget. He said this cut in funding meant a reduction in the opening period and the centre had opened from April to August. The opening period for next year would depend on the funds allocated by the councillors in their budget for next year. Cathoairleach of Kells Town Council, Cllr Brian Curran, said the council would be looking at every possible avenue of securing the centre for the future. He said that a large amount of money needed to be spent on the centre and they would have to examine all possible ways of doing this. Cllr Curran said that they would be looking at different ways of attracting visitors to the centre. Senator Hannigan has criticised the closure of the centre, which attracts around 30,000 people every year and is the only tourist information point in the town. It also displays a range of ancient Celtic artefacts and conducts tours of the town's historic landmarks for tourists, schools and retirement groups. "Our economic recovery is heavily reliant on our international reputation. If it gets out that we cannot even keep the heritage centre open in the town where the Book of Kells was written, we'll look like an even bigger basket case than we already are. We keep hearing that if we don't make cutbacks, then the IMF will take over the country. I doubt even they would propose closing the Kells Heritage Centre. I doubt local traders, who benefit from the 30,000 people who visit the centre every year, will be impressed either," he said.