News Ireland update Monday as told by Donie

200 new jobs for Westport Mayo

Pharmaceutical giant Allergan 

       

Allergan the maker of Botox products in the treatment of migraines and incontinence.

Pharmaceutical giant Allergan is to create 200 new jobs in a €350 million investment at its plant in Westport, Co Mayo.

The US multinational, which employs 900 people in Ireland, is expanding to meet growing demand for its Botox product in treatment of migraines and incontinence.

It will take on 200 new staff over the next four years. It is estimated another 250 jobs will be created indirectly locally during the construction period.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the jobs boost as a significant vote of confidence in Ireland. “Developments like this will help us on the path to economic recovery,” he said.

“Allergan’s Westport facility is an important strategic site in their network and contributes more than 50 per cent of global revenues from a range of products manufactured here,” added Mr Kenny, who is a TD for Mayo.

“The expansion of this facility is a much needed boost for the region and will bring further high quality jobs to the west of Ireland.”

Allergan have purchased the technology park next to its Westport facility to allow for the expansion.

Allergan Pharmaceuticals Ireland managing director Pat O’Donnell said the company expected the demand for Botox to continue to grow.

Imelda May sends them wild in Ardara! 

Donegal & creates May-hem

           

Rockabilly singing sensation Imelda May

The wild winds and driving rain weren’t the only forces of nature to visit Ardara over the holiday period. The rockabilly phenomenon that is Imelda May hit town between Christmas and New Year – and delighted locals with some impromptu sing-a-longs in local hostelries.

According to Stephen McCahill, this was the singer’s first visit to Ardara. A native of Dublin, she came up to see her brother Brendan and his partner Josephine who have a holiday home there. “They spend a lot of time here in Ardara and are a very popular couple,” he said. “Imelda’s parents also visit a lot and, when they do, they often spend evenings in the pub. As they are both good singers, they usually join in the sessions with a song or two.

“When she was here, Imelda visited a lot of the shops and spent time in both the Nesbitt Arms and The Corner House. She treated us all to a few songs, on her own and with her parents. She seemed very relaxed and told everyone she loved it here. I think she enjoyed the fact that people just let her get on with her holiday and didn’t make a fuss over her.

“It’s amazing when you think that just a few days before she was performing before 14,000 at a sold out concert in the 02 in Dublin, with Bono and Larry Mullen joining her onstage!”

“Everyone was very impressed by how down to earth she was, how warm and friendly, just like her parents.

“She said she’d be coming back and I wouldn’t be surprised if she became a regular visitor.”

Ireland’s Struggling consumers are very pessimistic over future

   

THE MAJORITY of Irish consumers are struggling to make ends meet and most are now convinced things are only going to get worse, according to the fourth and final credit union spending survey of 2011 which was published this morning.

Dramatic increases in the cost of health insurance and fuel and energy bills in particular are hitting consumers hard and hundreds of thousands of people now say they have absolutely nothing left when all their monthly household bills are paid.

The results of the Irish League of Credit Unions “What’s Left” disposable income tracker index is likely to be viewed by many as a grimly accurate portrayal of their day-to-day and increasingly hand-to-mouth existence.

Throughout 2011, the tracker index recorded how much disposable income Irish people had, where they were spending their money and the financial hardships they were facing.

As with the earlier reports, worry is a recurrent theme of the latest study with 83 per cent of those polled on this occasion expressing the fear that 2012 will be an even more difficult year financially than last year.

Nearly one in four consumers described themselves as “very worried about how they are going to manage” this year while 6 per cent said they would not be able to cope at all and had no idea what to do about their financial predicament.

The study shows that overall disposable income remains under pressure for the majority of people with 70 per cent saying the amount that they have left over after paying essential bills has fallen during the past 12 months.

Working adults in particular reported a significant fall in their disposable income last year.

Savings remain little more than an aspiration for many adults with 48 per cent saying they continue to find it difficult to put money aside in the current economic environment.

The number of people who say they can afford to save continues to fall and now stands at 33 per cent, down 3 per cent from September.

The survey found that increases in energy and fuel costs have negatively affected the spending ability of 86 per cent while private health insurance is a “huge concern”.

All told, 9 per cent of those with health insurance said they would have to give it up this year because they can no longer afford it, while a further 31 per cent said they would be forced to give it up if there are any further price increases.

While utilities and health insurance are of most concern to most people, mortgages and rent continue to be the most expensive bills for 75 per cent of Irish adults.

There has been a slight shift in the second and third categories with groceries/shopping now the second most expensive bill at 62 per cent followed by utility bills at 59 per cent.

“In each of our trackers in 2011, we saw disposable income continue to shrink for the population and we will be looking to see if this trend continues throughout 2012,” said ILCU chief executive Kieron Brennan.

“As we look to the year ahead, we once again encourage those who find themselves in a difficult financial situation to know that they are not alone.

“Remember that if you are in financial difficulty to contact your bank or credit union at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss your situation,” Mr Bannon said.

While the survey will make for depressing reading for most people at least there is some good news for Tesco.

The survey found that it has the lion’s share of the bulk grocery shopping market with 38 per cent of people saying they did their big shop in the British retailing giant.

Dunnes Stores is in second place, a long way behind at 20 per cent, while Aldi is in third on 11 per cent.

Lidl is next on 10 per cent, just two points ahead of SuperValu, while Superquinn is in last place on 6 per cent.

Donegal Airport traffic numbers have 

dropped from 2010 by 14.3% last year

      

Donegal Airport: its peak year of operations was in 2008

AN AVERAGE of 110 passengers a day used Donegal Airport in 2011, according to end-of-year figures just published.

Traffic numbers at the airport dropped by 14.3 per cent from 46,825 in 2010 to 40,102 last year.

Marketing manager Pauline Sweeney attributed the drop to the difficult economic climate.

“Tourism in the northwest region has been hardest hit and also less people are making leisure trips to Dublin now than before,” she said.

Currently there are two scheduled services from Donegal Airport, to Dublin and to Glasgow.

Flights on both routes are operated by Loganair, under a franchise agreement with Flybe, using 34-seater Saab 340B aircraft.

In August Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar confirmed that Loganair had been awarded the PSO contract for the operation of the Donegal-Dublin air service, which had previously been operated by Aer Arran.

PSO services between Dublin and Knock, Sligo and Galway ended in July, but the Dublin-Donegal and Dublin-Kerry routes were awarded additional contracts for a three-year period with two return flights each day on both routes. Subsidising the routes will cost the State an average of €7.6 million a year.

“The reduced traffic would have been a factor in the carrier appointment with lesser capacity aircraft, while leaving the number of rotations of two flights per day to and from Dublin to service and develop new markets,” Ms Sweeney added.

Donegal Airport was originally developed with a grass landing strip in the early 1980s to facilitate businesses on the Gweedore Industrial Estate in the west of the county.

Several airlines have operated scheduled services from the airport – with mixed success – over the years. In the past the airport has had flights to London (Luton), Edinburgh, Rotterdam and Birmingham. Carriers have included Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Malinair and Ireland Airways.

Its peak year of operations was 2008 when 65,537 passengers used the airport.

The airport is also used occasionally by the Coast Guard and also for helicopter flights serving off-shore oil and gas exploration projects.

Meanwhile, the airport has seen investment of more than €2.5 million over the past 18 months on the replacement of a full Instrument Landing System and the reconfiguration of the runway along with safety works.

According to Ireland West MEP Pat “the Cope” Gallagher, Donegal Airport could not continue commercially without PSO funding. “The PSO is vitally important due to the isolated location of west Donegal, which is without a national primary road or rail link,” he said.