Thomas Pringle TD has today raised concerns regarding the claim that 32 new jobs will be created in Donegal Town as part of the announcement that an Irish Water regional office is to be located there.
“Earlier this week the locations of Irish Water region offices were announced, including Donegal Town, which are to support the provision of water and wastewater services with between 18–32 employees being based in each of these offices,” said Deputy Pringle.
Donegal Daily reported that there was unlikely to be any new jobs in the announcement as council staff would probably be re-located.
Deputy Pringe agreed with that view.
“While I most certainly welcome that one of the regional offices will be based in Donegal Town, Minister McGinley’s assertion that 32 new jobs will be created is simply untrue,” said Pringle.
“The government statement on the matter acknowledges that these employees ‘will be based in each of these offices drawn from the local authorities, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG), Bord Gáis’ with some going through open recruitment, meaning job creation will be at a minimum.
“Again, I want to make clear that I do welcome the announcement that Donegal Town is to be the location for a regional office for Irish Water, but the assertion that’s been made on job impact is inaccurate and such statements should be avoided so as not to cause disappointment. I would be delighted if 32 new jobs were created, but this is simply not the case,” stated Pringle.