Shannon Job Loss Shock

A company, which provides contact centre services to UK public and private sector organisations in Shannon, is to close.

Agilisys Contact Services has announced that its centre in Shannon will shut down and that it will transfer its operations to the UK.

It has been in Ireland for the last four years and employed 71 permanent staff.

The company said it had informed the staff of its intention and hoped that some of them will relocate to its UK centres at Barrow-in-Furness and Rochdale.

Chief Executive Officer Kay Andrews said: "This decision has been driven by the current economic conditions, with the strength of the euro against the pound meaning that overhead costs in Shannon are proving to be uneconomic.

"It is a very difficult situation as we have an outstanding group of individuals in Shannon.

"We hope that some of them will take the opportunity to join one of our contact centres in the UK.

"We also hope that economic circumstances will revert and we can return to Shannon in the near future," she said.

A spokesperson added that the company was in consultation with the workers in relation to redundancies.

(BMcC/KMcA)