The Problems of Limerick To Be Fixed - Some Spit and Polish'll Do the Trick!!

The Tribune today says that Dell is closing early next year with the loss of 16,000 jobs in the Mid West.

Regeneration plans may need to be extended.

Saw that but then again I've seen it written in numerous places over the past 2 years. I would not be surprised in the least but then again we should wait and see. One of the articles a few months ago said they were going to sell the plant to some Chinese company, a form of outsourcing or something which would see a quarter of the workforce lose their jobs. Which obviously wouldn't be a positive development but it would not be doomsday.

Wait and see. But yes it is a concern. Obviously.

They have already built the new plant in Poland. There is no surprise about this.

The plant in Poland has been there for years at this stage and you are correct there is no surprise. But then again I think it is a bit simplistic to presume that you know their business plan.

Hence I say I would not be the least bit surprised if they left but then again I would wait and see what happens. I know the MD of a foreign company which makes soap dispensers in Ireland. They are a huge company and they have factories in every continent all of which could absorb the Irish plant. However, they are committed to continuing a presence in Ireland for a whole host of reasons.

johnfás wrote:

The plant in Poland has been there for years at this stage and you are correct there is no surprise. But then again I think it is a bit simplistic to presume that you know their business plan.

Hence I say I would not be the least bit surprised if they left but then again I would wait and see what happens. I know the MD of a foreign company which makes soap dispensers in Ireland. They are a huge company and they have factories in every continent all of which could absorb the Irish plant. However, they are committed to continuing a presence in Ireland for a whole host of reasons.

Well it is the Tribune's report I'm relying on, and they report the IDA will be making a "serious announcement" on the Dell plant.

Absolutely there will be job cuts, I'm just not sure if they will pull out completely and if the doomsday scenario painted will come to fruition. It may well and I would not be shocked but I don't think as an outsider one could say that it constituted a foregone conclusion. There are plenty of variables within a business which an outsider would not recognise so I wouldn't want to speculate.

Perhaps Poland won't be such an attractive option if the European Commission finds the Polish Government guilty of illegal State aid with their €50million+ subsidies to Dell for their plant in Poland. If such a ruling resulted in the Polish Government ceasing such subsidies they might decide investment there is not viable. I just don't know.

johnfás wrote:

Absolutely there will be job cuts, I'm just not sure if they will pull out completely and if the doomsday scenario painted will come to fruition. It may well and I would not be shocked but I don't think as an outsider one could say that it constituted a foregone conclusion. There are plenty of variables within a business which an outsider would not recognise so I wouldn't want to speculate.

Perhaps Poland won't be such an attractive option if the European Commission finds the Polish Government guilty of illegal State aid with their €50million+ subsidies to Dell for their plant in Poland. If such a ruling resulted in the Polish Government ceasing such subsidies they might decide investment there is not viable. I just don't know.

The Irish model of attracting inward investment has been very influential.

Absolutely the Irish model has been influential but I don't see Dell's internal accounts, I don't see what transport costs are to Poland, I don't know what their opinion on the long term stability of the country is, I don't know what contractual tie in agreements they have here and how costly it would be to get out of them, I don't know what redundancy of all employees would cost vis-a-vis the longterm savings in Poland, I don't know what their projections are for future wage increases in Poland are, I don't know how developed Polish law is or to what extent they see this as a problem... these are all variables which we don't know so I think we can be safe in saying we don't know the longterm plans for any company.

We know that Ireland has lost competitiveness and that it needs to regain it if it stands a chance at maintaining the investment it currently has at current levels. But we haven't a notion regarding the above, I certainly don't anyway, so I think speculation on precisely what will happen, whilst fun, is somewhat idle without the raw data facts. Certainly Dell won't be doing as much business here going forward but that does not necessarily mean that 16,000+ will be losing their jobs next year as a result... at least without evidence that it is true. Which I don't see presently, but it could well be the case, as I said.