Workers at Tara Mines in Meath say they've no idea what the future holds, after the company announced 650 workers will be temporarily laid off. The lay-offs will begin over the next four weeks, and staff have been given no indication as to when operations might resume. Boliden, which runs the zinc mine in Navan, says the decision was taken to "safeguard the long-term future of the company".
Meanwhile speaking to Northern Sound, Meath-West TD Peadar Tóibín revealed that high electricity prices in Ireland is also one of the main factors behind this "shock decision."
Deputy Tóibín stated; "Electricity prices have been really hurting the mines over the last while, indeed electricity is teh second biggest cost the mine has after labour.
"Ireland has an extremely high electricity cost location at the moment. The company has looked at its profitability and its cost base and has decided that it is not able to produce anymore here in Ireland.
"The really frustrating thing for me is that we have similar mines in Sweden that are operating with the exact same price for zinc, the only difference is they have a far lower electricity price." Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insists the government is willing to work with the company to get mine back open.
