THE CLOSURE of the Irish Driver Harris plant in New Ross has been described as a catastrophe for the town.

While workers at the plant expressed their dismay and disappointment over the closure to The Echo public representatives and the local Chamber has said the 47 jobs losses represent a major blow.

The factory closed its doors on Tuesday without warning to any of the employees.

Workers who spoke about the matter in the wake of the closure said it came like a bolt out of the blue.

Liam Rossiter, who worked at the plant for 18 years, said the news shocked everyone involved with the plant.

“It’s been quiet the last while alright but no-one saw this coming,” he told The Echo.

“We have quiet periods around this time every year but we always come out of it,” he added.

Staff were told at 10.30 a.m. that a meeting would take place at 12.30 noon. It was at that meeting they were informed that the plant was closing with immediate affect.

Mr. Rossiter also said it was a surreal atmosphere in the plant on Tuesday: “People were talking about the fact that once we left at 2 p.m. that was it, we wouldn’t be going back.”

What started out as a normal morning for the workers turned on its head when they were informed of the news.

“An hour later we started thinking this will be the last time we will be here,” said Mr. Rossiter.

Shop Steward, Helen Fortune, said the sudden nature of the news really shocked everyone involved.

She worked at the plant for 24 years and was informed about the 12.30 p.m. meeting by her Plant Manager.

“We were all working oblivious to anything going on and our Plant Manager came down to tell us that our boss, Frank Driver, wanted to have a meeting with us,” she said.

“We weren’t sure what was going on but we thought it might be for lots of different reasons,” she said.

“We thought he might be going to downsize or that maybe they had teamed up with another company and things were going to be looking up and we would be going back on shift work or whatever but we didn’t expect this.”

The President of New Ross & District Chamber said the closure sent shock waves throughout the town.

Mary Browne told The Echo that she contacted Min. Paul Kehoe about the matter and that he confirmed the issue was raised with Min. Richard Bruton.

“I contacted him because he is our closest local representative and he confirmed to me that he was in touch with Minister Richard Bruton about the matter and they are looking at seeing if the plant could be taken over as a going concern,” she said.

With regard to the overall affect of the closure Ms. Browne said it will have an impact on the whole community in New Ross.

While 47 jobs were lost as a direct result of the closure it’s estimated that the knock-on effect of those people losing their jobs could see around 70 jobs in total being affected in New Ross.