McCauley’s agree to Howlin meeting

Labour Party leader, Deputy Brendan Howlin is to meet with the Chairperson of the Board of Directors at Sam McCauley Chemists Ltd this week to discuss options he says could keep the company in the county.

He requested the meeting following the revelation in this newspaper that the Board plans to move the headquarters of the company from its base in Ardcavan to Citywest in Dublin.

CEO Tony McEntee said the move was necessary because of the lack of skilled people in the county to fill roles within sales and marketing at McCauley’s.

Mr McEntee said it was a move that made business sense but that the heritage of the business and ‘its close association with Wexford remains very important to the group’.

Mr McEntee also said the group’s ‘commitment to continue significantly investing in the town and county is very strong and unquestioned’.

Deputy Howlin confirmed to this newspaper that the meeting with, Jimmy Tolan, chairman of the board, is due to take place on Thursday.

Wexford Chamber is also still trying to find a way of addressing the issues outlined by Mr McEntee and the Board with regard to sourcing skilled local people to fill roles within the company.

However, on Friday the Chamber president, Niall Reck, confirmed that the organisation had not received a response from Sam McCauley’s in relation to an offer to meet with the Board to discuss a range of ideas and potential options available to keep the headquarters of the business in Co Wexford.

‘We haven’t heard anything back yet but we are having a Chamber meeting and it will be discussed again at that,’ said Mr Reck who expressed concern at a report on national radio about the impending move of the company in which the reason was given as lack of skilled people in the county. ‘That’s a very poor reflection on the county and an inaccurate one,’ said Mr Reck.

He had suggested that the company could relocate from its current base in Ardcavan yet still remain within the county boundaries.

‘They could relocate to the Hatch Lab in Gorey which would mean they’re just down the road from Dublin but still in the traditional county home of the business,’ he said.

He suggested that such a meeting would be beneficial and that it would give the Chamber an opportunity to present ideas to the Board.

‘That is a big concern for me when we are trying to entice and encourage people to come here,’ he said.

Tom Enright, Chief Executive Officer of Wexford County Council, said he had received no response to the local authority’s offer of space in the new building adjacent to the Hatch Lab in Gorey.

‘There is space in that building that would be available for a lot less than any location in Citywest,’ said Mr Enright.