Patsy McGlone 2nd June 2009

MCGLONE: METEOR CLOSURE DEVESTATING TO KILDRESS AREA

SDLP Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has expressed his regret at the loss of 70 jobs due to the closure of Meteor in Kildress, near Cookstown.

He said: “This is a devastating blow for the Mid Ulster area. Meteor is a brand known throughout Ireland and it is very sad that a company that has been trading very successfully in the area for 25 years has been forced to close.

“The Conway family are held in very high esteem in the Kildress area and it will hurt them as much as the workers to have to close the plant. Unfortunately, in these economic times even large businesses, such as Meteor, are not immune to the difficulties.

“The question must now be to what happens in the future and how we re-employ those who find themselves unemployed. Some of these workers will have been employed by the Conway family since leaving school and there was a community atmosphere at the plant. We must now do all we can to attempt to gain work for these people.”
 

ENDS 02/06/09