Wage costs of as low as $1 an hour in Mexico have been cited as the reason behind the announcement that the Co Kerry base of Radiac Abrasives is to close with a loss of 34 jobs.

The Castleisland plant, which was established in 1975, manufactures rubber bonding and abrasive products. The company announced in May that, following a total review of its manufacturing operations worldwide, it had decided to transfer the manufacture of all hard rubber products to its plant in Mexico.

In a statement issued at the time, Radiac management said that all other product lines would continue to be manufactured in Castleisland pending further review, and that there would be no redundancies in the short term. However, attempts to secure additional business to fill the void left by the transfer have proved unsuccessful and the company has announced the closure of operations at Castleisland.

Vice-president and general manager, Mr Liam Brosnan, said that the redundancies would take place between January 1st and March 31st, 1998. The majority of the 34 workers are members of SIPTU. Mr Brosnan said that the company was in negotiations with its employees in respect of severance and specifics with regard to the closure.

SIPTU representative, Mr Donal Tobin, said that the announcement had come as a surprise. Although workers had been aware they would be faced with some level of redundancies, they had not anticipated the total closure of the plant.

He said that Ireland could not hope to compete with low-cost countries such as Mexico, where wages of $1 an hour were being paid. Mr Tobin said that productivity at the Castleisland plant had increased by 17 per cent over the last six months and that workers had done everything possible to secure their jobs.