Twenty-four hours before MBNA announced it was closing its call centre in Carrick-on-Shannon with the loss of 160 jobs, the town was in festive mode, thanks to a glamorous group of young women traipsing its streets.
The Rose of Tralee contingent were in town – attracting a crowd who followed them in and out of shops, down the boardwalk and into the Dock arts centre where they were greeted by a beaming Minister for Tourism, Paschal Donohue. But even as the Leitrim Rose Zara Healy demonstrated to her fellow contestants how to pull a pint in Flynn’s bar, run by her father John, Bank of America executives were preparing a statement for the MBNA staff in the town.
“It was like being pushed back down the hill again,” said local businessman Chris Foley who runs a tool-hire business on the outskirts of the town.
“This was our best summer for seven years and many of our customers were MBNA staff – ordinary householders who were starting to do up their houses and extend them. This will affect all of us.
“I know Carrick won’t close down because we have lost 160 jobs but it is an awful wallop.”
Geraldine Gray, manager of the Leitrim Design House which showcases the work of local artists, said the knock-on effect of the job losses would be “quite drastic”.
“Carrick does get a lot of tourists but local jobs are what keep us going during the off-peak season. This is a big blow,” she said.
At its peak MBNA employed almost 1,200 people in Carrick and, while more than 200 jobs remain on site, under the AvantCard umbrella, the whittling away of so many jobs has caused a lot of pain.
Last Wednesday Joe Dolan, owner of the Bush Hotel and chairman of Leitrim Tourism, was entertaining the Rose of Tralee contingent, when MBNA made its announcement.
“It is a huge psychological blow,” he said. “But there are a lot of positives in Carrick and we won’t take this lying down.”
Many locals felt the Government should spare them another task force and just turn the Bank of America building into a financial services centre.
“Richard Bruton promised us that this would not happen when he was here three years ago,” said Foley. “Look around you. There are eight units in this business park and the other seven are empty. Leitrim and Roscommon have been forgotten about and we expected more from a west of Ireland Taoiseach.”
