Yesteryears: War blamed as factory in Tipperary laid off 100 workers

Our YESTERYEARS feature this week returns to our edition of April 5, 2003 when our lead story, written by Aodhán Ó Faoláin, was headlined: “War blamed as tannery to lay off 100.”

A downturn in world markets and the war in Iraq were blamed for the temporary layoffs at one of Clonmel’s longest established firms. Approximately 100 workers based at the Ronans Tannery factory at Dudley’s Mills at Coleville Road, Clonmel, and at a store in Dublin, were informed by the board of directors of John Ronan & Sons that they would be out of work for the foreseeable future.

It was a further blow at the time to the economy in south Tipperary as in the weeks prior to this announcement, 150 workers at Pall in Tipperary Town had also been informed of lay-offs, while temporary lay-offs had also taken place at the Fair Oaks Foods plants at Upper Irishtown in Clonmel.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom as there was also good news on the business front that week and we reported on two positive stories for the local economy.

DIY retailer, Woodies, announced that they intended to open an outlet in Clonmel as part of the proposed new development for the Poppyfield in Ballingarrane. A 40,000 square feet building and a 12,000 garden centre were planned to open in the latter part of 2003 or early 2004.

Also 60 news jobs were to be created by Blarney Woollen Mills in an a multi-million euro investment at the Tipperary Crystal factory outside Carrick-on-Suir. As well as purchasing the factory which was to be developed as a craft village, Blarney Woollen Mills had also purchased a further 10 acres around the then existing factory to ensure that a substantial development costing in the region of €8 million could be completed within two years.

Staying with good news that week, Eamon Lacey reported that a new lotto millionaire was keeping everyone guessing in Cahir after the winning ticket in the €5.2 million jackpot on the previous Saturday night had been bought in the town. The winning ticket had been purchased in Ladrigan’s Spar shop in Abbey Street the day before the draw. Ian Pericho, owner of the Spar shop, was delighted to have sold his first lotto jackpot winning ticket he told our reporter.