A new lower running regime at Moneypoint has been accepted by staff at the West Clare plant.
ESB confirmed to The Clare Echo that staff accepted a proposal by way of ballot on Friday “relating to a reconfigured Moneypoint station based on the new lower running regime”.
Negotiations between ESB, Moneypoint staff and Trade Union representatives had been ongoing for the past few months as attempts were made to reach an agreement.
“This is a positive step in retaining an on-going operation in Moneypoint for ESB, the staff of Moneypoint and the region. ESB is now working with staff and their representatives to implement the agreement in a collaborative way to face the challenges ahead,” a spokesperson for ESB told The Clare Echo.
In July it was announced that over 100 jobs were to go from the workforce of 194 at Moneypoint with ESB citing market pressures, carbon prices and increases in renewable energy for the drop in demand for it’s resources. The decision came, one month after all contractors at the site had been laid off.
There was surprise this week when Clare was not included in the Just Transition Fund which was set up to aid areas where jobs had been lost to climate change. “The €31m Just Transition fund is a starting point, but it is imperative that the communities most affected by the ESB and Bord na Mona closures are protected. The government also needs to extend this fund to support communities in Clare which are dealing with the reduced activity and job losses at Moneypoint. These companies have been the lifeblood of these rural areas for generations and their workers cannot be abandoned,” Clare TD and Fianna Fáil’s Spokesperson on Climate Change, Timmy Dooley told The Clare Echo.
Mike Taylor who ran as a Fine Gael candidate in the local elections had hit out at West Clare’s from the fund but has withdrawn his remarks. “I have been informed via a call from Leinster House this evening that the Just Transition Fund has not yet been concluded and there is a possibility for West Clare/Moneypoint to be included in future”. His party colleague, Sentator Martin Conway raised the matter in the Seanad on Tuesday evening.
