General Election candidate told 'lack of tradesmen an issue for businesses in Tipperary'
Independent General Election candidate Mattie McGrath spoke with businesses around the town of Dundrum last week
Among General Election issues I've encountered in towns in recent weeks, the lack of tradesmen in Ireland was brought up in Dundrum, Tipperary.
While Independent TD Mattie McGrath was canvassing the town, he popped into O'Dwyer Steel in Dundrum.
While there McGrath spoke with Sean Dalton, who deals with the finance of the company.
The company has been in the town of Dundrum since 1959 and is a huge employer in the area.
Mr. Dalton explained that they have 95 people employed at the premises and they ship components all over Europe and at the moment they were making steel components for data centres.
When asked what challenges the industry faced Dalton explained that recruitment was a big issue for the company. “We are always looking for more staff, the people living here that want to work should be allowed work.”
He said they have to hire staff from abroad sometimes and the visa process is “very stressful". He said that they find it hard to find electricians to hire. He also mentioned that the company had been looking for a forklift driver for the past three weeks and have had no luck in hiring someone.