Firm’s wind down dubbed a ‘hammer blow’ to Limerick town
THE INCESSANT rain and dark clouds above mirrored the mood on the ground in Askeaton, Limerick this week.
It comes as the town begins to come to terms with the potential loss of its largest employer, Wyeth, which outlined plans to wind down its operation in Limerick, with the loss of 542 roles.
Cafes, general stores, newsagents and pubs - it feels like no industry in Askeaton will not be hit by the decision by Nestlé to shift production to China and Switzerland.
“It’s a hammer-blow. There’s no other word for it. It’s a dark dark day for the town,” said Josh Sheahan, who runs Top of the Town bar.
Something that has shocked locals is the feeling that the announcement literally came out of the blue.
“Normally in a pub, you get some whispers. But there was nothing. Not one employee saw this coming. In the summer, they were mad looking for extra workers because they didn’t have enough staff to do things. It seems it was flying,” he added.
There was a real sense that a job in Wyeth was a job for life.
Local pharmacy owner Kevin Davison said: “A lady came into this shop and told me she knew somebody who had given up a job of 14 years to go to Wyeth. This was only a couple of months ago. You’d have your application form in for years for Wyeth. It’s the best employment around here.”
Kevin’s own son has been with the company for the last seven years.
It is on this basis that many workers will have taken up significant financial commitments.
“There have been mortgages and car loans taken out on the basis these people were going to be here for years.
People expected Wyeth would be there forever. It went into the generations - everybody knew everyone working there,” said Orla Moran, who runs O’Morain’s Hardware.
“People would have bought farms here - small farms on top of their mortgage.”
It’s not just permanent staff at Wyeth. Many contractors would travel to the plant, with the owner of the Askeaton Centra store Brian Hanly saying: “They’d come here two or three times a day, five times a week.”
The impending closure - production by 2026, research in 2025 - was the talk of people enjoying their breakfast in the Belfrey Cafe in Church Street.
It’s left its proprietor Billy McCarthy “stunned”.
“There will be less spending money in the town as a side effect of this. We’ve already lost our ban, we’ve already closed a lot of businesses here - pubs and that. It’s really downsizing our town. We are relying on tourism more than ever to pick up our trade.”
On that note, Askeaton will mark its 825th anniversary next year.
Carmel Ryan, who manages the town’s tourist office says in the past, Wyeth management would have been very generous with sponsorship.
She admitted celebrations may need to be scaled back in order to take into account the loss of spending money in the town.
“It is extremely tough,” Carmel said, “People have built their lives with Wyeth. My husband worked there for 24 years. Our children were reared on Wyeth baby food and Wyeth payments.”