Plant closure and loss of 18 jobs ‘not due to Brexit’

A ROW has erupted over claims that Brexit is to blame for the loss of 18 jobs at an oil tank-making company in Co Monaghan.

Siptu officials said staff will lose their jobs next month when Kingspan company Titan Environmental stops manufacturing at its site in Carrickmacross.

They said the company confirmed the reason for the closure is to move the plant’s machinery to another plant in Portadown in the North.

A spokesperson for the union said this was to “secure the plant in the build-up to Brexit”.

However, a spokesperson for parent company Kingspan Environmental Ireland said Brexit had no influence on the decision, which it said is due to continuing losses within the business, which makes steel diesel and oil storage tanks. The company said it has entered consultations with staff that may see up to 18 workers made redundant.

“Kingspan regrets having to take this decision and will work with staff on redeployment opportunities and help make the transition as smooth as possible,” it said.

But Siptu official Denis Sheridan said: “We were told by a member of management during the redundancy negotiations that it was due to Brexit.”

Mr Sheridan claimed the company gets most of its orders from the British market and he believes it is losing orders because clients are “waiting to see what’s happening on Brexit”.

He claimed that despite issuing a statement about redeploying workers, when union officials raised this management said there were no jobs available.