Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), owner of the Irish Examiner and 13 other titles, will outsource its printing operation after 153 years and sell its Cork head office for about €30 million. It is selling its Academy Street premises to Cork property developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan, although TCH has until the end of 2006 before it needs to move out of the building.
The company is buying a 3.5 acre site in Mahon from Mr O'Callaghan's firm O'Callaghan Properties, and a new printing operation will be situated there.
The cost of this site is believed to be included in the €30 million purchase price.
This operation will be built and operated by private firm Webprint Concepts, which was set up by a former senior Independent News & Media (IN&M) executive Mr Donogh O'Doherty.
He ran IN&M's regional paper division and informed the company this week he was leaving.
TCH said Webprint would be funding the printing operation, including buying and installing a new press. Webprint will lease the Mahon site from TCH and print 13 of its 14 titles on a contract basis, including the Sunday Business Post.
The only title not being printed at Mahon will be the UK paper, the Irish Post.
TCH employs 80 staff in printing. and managing director Mr Anthony Dinan said these staff had three options: to take a redundancy package, re-deploy/ re-train; or transfer to the outsourced operation in Mahon. He said the company was totally opposed to compulsory redundancies. A company statement said: "TCH will enter into discussions with the trade unions on matters relating to the decision to restructure its printing function."
A spokesman for the the Graphical, Paper & Media Union (GPMU), which represents printing staff at TCH, said it would give its reaction to the announcement later in the week. The group of unions at the paper also declined to comment at this stage.
TCH titles include the following: the Irish Examiner, the Sunday Business Post, the Evening Echo, the Irish Post, and a number of provincial newspapers throughout the island.
The company also owns several websites, including Recruit Ireland.com and MotorNet.ie, and shares in radio stations Northwest Radio, MidWest Radio and RED FM.
