Will they get their redundancy ?

Maybe if government contracts, and Irish magazines weren’t printed abroad, this and many other print firms would survive. As a printer myself I am fed up with the attitude of print buyers in this country that regularly go to the UK, eastern Europe and the far east for their print needs.

Hey Stephen, while I appreciate your frustration as someone in the industry – and it’s never easy to take erosion like this – maybe Ireland just isn’t a big enough market to sustain an industry at the size it was at?

Economics of scale combined with labour costs (etc) might make old factory work like your industry a thing of the past on these shores. Meanwhile we find ourselves opening more pharma factories and R&D centres, data centres, etc.

It’s the creative destruction of capitalism.

@ stephen
If ya pester them enough they’ll keep it here. I noticed a run of 700k mags from Bord Bia arriving in my factory for inserting from the UK. I ran amok with them and the then minister for jobs and we’ve been doin work for Bord Bia since.

why would the Government care? have they not used printers outside the republic?

the government do use Irish printers. its one of the things I used to check when leaflets come through the door. previous govt didn’t.

Aaron I think the point stephen was making was about government giving the contracts to foreign companies.
I know it is sickening to see along the border the amount of construction contracts given to northern Ireland contractors. On one hand the government sets compartively high rates of pay (comparitive to the north) for construction workers, Then the say you are to dear and give the work to northern contractors.
Just to add insult to injury, They then ask you not to cross the border to shop !!!!

Sad news, but this has been coming to the printing industry in Ireland for near on 20 years- as someone pointed out above, the market in Ireland just isn’t big enough to compete with shipping in from abroad.

This is true Fine Gael got their print abroad. The government also group print jobs, as under EU rules they must be tendered among the member states. However if this grouping did not happen more of the work would remain in the country. I have been in print for 20+ years and am now on a 3 day week. I am thankful to still have a job but remain uncertain as the what future holds.

The solution to cheaper material being printed abroad is to break the tender up into smaller parcels to make it uneconomic for the continental big boys.

if you bothered to look at the election leaflets coming coming through your door you would have seen they were printed in Ireland. most by printers in sandyford in Dublin.

fair point, but at what point do you decide everything on cost? we should do what we can, when we can to support local business.

Fizi_water
Sure maybe they can go to germany to work !

All gov contracts have to be tendered inclusive of vat. Companies outside state don’t have to include vat so the cost is cheaper. This happens on a lot of government/ political tenders.

Yes Jimmy
I know this and it is a load of Bol**x
We are being slowly strangled.

Its not a fair point. Labour costs are alot cheaper in the Uk & germany & thats just for starters. Transport electricity you name it we are off the scale here & it will take along time to sort it out.

@Garrett Hi, living in France with an ex-French printer and paper supplier, I have to say that the printing industry here is on its knees, with both the traditional baltic paper suppliers and prining works closing up shop in favour of cheaper paper (from eastern Asia) and cheaper printing contractsin eastern Europe. IT is also heavily responsible for the loss of “small ” contracts .Must be the price to pay for “progress”. After four years on the dole, two years of which without any income except a few euros from time to time from his old lady, my man sold out completely and bought a tobacconists. Shameful really.
For France: no link to print workers sorry but you just have to drop your jaw in admiration for the train drivers here. Yes with progress they don’t have to shovel coal in their high speed trains but these lads still receive a bonus for doing so!

Hi Deirdre, my comment should have been that the French Government contracts are broken down in amounts or values that don’t require a public EU tender and this is a way of keeping print within ones borders. We however have not adopted the same stance as we are the “perfect” boys and girls of Europe, look at what this has caused, every business here is being hammered.
I wish your husband well with the Tabacconist.

Take the first 2 letters from empathetic and that’s what u are.

That’s because you are a child still in school. Go back there and stay there until you realise what you just said.

It’s not because I’m ‘pathetic’ or because I’m a ‘child’ my comment is as a result of 2 factors; desensitisation and perspective.