Some employees at the Carlow plant worked there for 35 years, writes Seán MacConnell
Even the weather was bad yesterday in Carlow as the news filtered out that the town's first industry, its sugar factory, was to cease production on March 11th.
A bitter wind blew across the exposed edge of the town where the sugar plant has been spewing out hot steam and making high-grade sugar since 1926.
A disappointed worker, Mr Martin Doyle, left the plant, and pushed his bicycle into a rainstorm. He told journalists he had worked for 35 years at the plant, and his father before him had worked all his life there.
"We were told at 3.15 p.m. that the plant was closing. It's a bloody disgrace after all we put into it. It took 10 months to build the plant, but only 10 minutes to close it."
Another worker, Mr Michael Condron, with 35 years' service, said he did not see how he could get another job after the plant closed. He believed the workers had been sold out.
Mr Gerry Doody said it was still not clear how many people were going to be kept on in the factory, but it was clear that many people were going to be badly hit by the closure.
Another worker with over 30 years' service, Mr Paddy Brennan, said he had not expected the closure to come so soon, and he felt that Carlow had not been given a chance to fight its corner in relation to Mallow.
All of the workers were very upset that the news of the closure was given to the Stock Exchange before they were told that their jobs were gone.
Worker director Mr Pat McCarthy said it was not clear what the attitude of the unions in the rest of Irish Sugar would be to the closure. He said the company had a package for those who were losing their jobs.
While he refused to put a figure on what that package would be worth, the local SIPTU branch secretary, Mr Michael Browne, had his view.
"If there are going to be job losses, and we have not even been told officially about that yet, they will not come cheap," he said, before going to meet shop stewards at the plant.
He described the company's announcement as "an absolute and total disappointment and disgrace", which, he claimed, had been done without any prior consultation with the union.
His disappointment was mirrored throughout the town where the local Chamber of Commerce issued a statement expressing its disappointment.
However, one worker's wife who phoned the local radio station, KCLR, yesterday morning to urge people to come out and protest over the closure at lunchtime, called back to say she was the only one outside the plant.