All those foreigners, staying over there and taking our jobs..... grumble, moan....

Anon because of all those with no sense of humour

Whilst I feel awful for the people who are going to be affected (not just in DELL but in the satellite industries) we've had it coming for a long time - we sat around talking about how great our economy was, how clever we were (spending the EU's money to offer tax incentives to foreign industry, oh indeed we are "cute hoors" as we say) and now look at us.

It's about time we actually started to learn how to be really competitive again, stop taking our jobs and lifestyles for granted, and stop relying on the same old system which, although it served us well in past years, is simply not good enough any more.

We simply need to to become good at something else now. Like maybe, Slavic languages ;)

"....Defence Minister Willie O'Dea....."

Presumably there was a bit of stick on offer as an alternative to any carrots then?

The die was cast long before this, so long that some higher-up Dell employees purchased property close to the new site in Poland to rent out to Dell's new workers.

How true; I remember a friend who worked there whose wife was over in Poland 8 years ago helping to setup the Manufacturing plant which even back then was earmarked as the replacement for the Limerick plant.

Like I said, we had it coming.

@TeeCee: the reason why the defence minister was sent it because he's from and based in Limerick and about the only politician we have who actually has the interests of the area at heart.

I did a job at Raheen a few years ago, there are a lot of suppliers clustered around the dell factory. For example, Banta package up the boxes with manuals/DVDs/packing etc - all these jobs will go as well. Plus all the indirect knock-on, taxis, pubs, hotels etc. I would say this is a real disaster for Limerick.

I had a good time there, the canteen did a cracking fry-up and there was a fair bit of talent on the offices.

Good luck to everyone in finding new work

There once was a man from Tashkent,

Who had a .... uh, no sorry, wrong "forum".

Towards the end of the previous century I bought some Dell boxes that came with rather spiffy monitors. The tubes were Trinitron that were made in a Sony factory in Wales. These were then shipped to Finland and placed in cases in a Nokia factory. From there they were sent to Dell in Ireland and then whole package was shipped to me in London.

No amount of EU subsidies was going to make that exercise in stupidity last forever. I'm afraid the Celtic Tiger was built on dreams, not realities.

Mine's the one with the subsidy under one arm and Dell pig under the other.

There once was a company called Dell

Their business was once going well

But their factory closed

with the economy hosed

and the last line had a bit of a smell

With limericks like that, you can see *why* they closed.

My company was offered various incentives by official bodies in Eire to move our operations to Ireland. These included VERY generous incentives including NO INCOME TAX for company directors for a number of years. As a Scorsman, of course I love the Irish. We are Celts.

I didn't take up the offers as I owned the factory I worked from and my employees had family and friends in the area, so wouldn\t have wanted to move. Anyway, the deal was to provide employment in Ireland, not to take your workforce to live there. So it wasn't for me.

I feel fairly sure that lots of execs would have taken the deal and moved on when it expired. As someone at the top end of a company I have to meet and deal with all sorts of directors and managers. I grade them in the following way:-

Bottom --- wouldn't let him into my office -- see him in reception --- don't want to trade with them

.

Lower Middle --- Five minutes in the office -- count fingers if shacking hands is unavoidable -- don't give credit..

Middle -- Typical type -- self-interest and greed written on the forehead -- avoid giving any special incentives to purchase -- consider carefully before giving credit -- not really too good for our company if people know we deal with them.

Upper Middle -- Happy to deal with them -- don't want them as friends -- probably give credit.

Lower Top -- They can have my mobile number -- they are welcome in my office -- delighted to do business with them and consider them to be 'pals', so, yes, would be pleased to have dinner with them in a restaurant.

Top -- very few of these --- I invite them to my house for dinner -- I like having them as friends -- they treat their employees properly and they don't pay themselves obscene amounts of money --they pay the tax they owe without bending the rules -- they ALWAYS pay their suppliers ON TIME.

What would I say about Dell ? Anyone who cares about their Irish workforce and the huge incentives paid out by Ireland to get themselves screwed by the greedy should now ask themselves -- if I need a computer, is it morally supportable to buy a Dell ? I think that the answer from anyone who would be invited into my house is a loud and clear NO !

Great stuff from David, but I'm wary of any argument which includes the phrase "morally supportable".

If it really was feasible for the world to embrace that notion, there'd be no Microsoft.

Actually, come to think of it, there'd be no world left to support anyway: no Government anywhere, elected or unelected, meets that criterion.

Ahh yes - They put profits and shareholders before their staff. It would be nice if Dell folded completely then they would stop sending junk mail to my deceased wife. The first time it happened, it was such a major chore getting them to even reply to my complaints but they did promise that no more would be sent - but then more started to turn up and I have to once more start banging on the various Dell email addresses trying to get then to stop. Their customer service centre in India is total crap and it is so difficult to get the name of a senior person to whom a complaint can be sent.

When will it all end?

Well they told us excepting more member states would be good for us and as usual we had no say either, you are now seeing just how good it is for us. My local area has also lost jobs due to Poland!