EU gifts Ireland €14.8m after Dell Limerick shutdown The European Parliament has sent €14.8 million to the Mid-West of Ireland following the shutdown of Dell's factory in Limerick. Dell Computer shuttered its Limerick factory in January, cutting loose 2,840 workers. 2,000 of those were Dell employees and the rest worked for suppliers and downstream partners. Ireland applied for …
The ROI attracted a lot of big IT companies into the country with grants and tax breaks and the like. All this contributed to the Celtic Tiger. The problem with this sort of strategy is that it's artificial and will only last as long as some other country offers a better deal. Add to that a global recession/downturn/slowdown* and you could end up with a mass exodus of employers.
If you have based a major part of your economic strategy on attracting one type of employer you could well be in trouble.
*Delete as applicable to your politcal allegience.
I went for a job interview there once, and encountered ageism for the first time. The first question at the interview was "The average age here is 27 - do you really think you'd be able to fit in?" I was 32, and they obviously didn't. Plus they'd promised to pay my travelling expenses and reneged on that.
Needless to say in my next role I was able to change the 'buy Dell' policy to 'buy anything but Dell'.
"the Polish plant had been planned long before the Limerick shutdown"
Of course it was; you can't shut down a plant until you have somewhere ready to replace its capacity (presuming that there is still demand for the product).
The planning sequence is:
1) Decide to move production to cheaper location.
2) Plan, build and commission plant in cheaper location.
3) Close existing plant.
Simples (Meerkat squeak)
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