‘Michelin closure will hit Causeway area’

Paul Beattie, a council official responsible for economic development at the Causeway Coast and Glens council, sounded a warning earlier this week about the impact of the Michellin closure on the local area.

Mr Beattie, addressing councillors at a recent Leisure and Development Committee meeting, said: “It would be remiss of me not to make some mention of the Michelin closure in 2018 - 860 jobs. We are all aware that the knock-on effects of this will be pretty huge. The travel-to-work area for a factory like that is going to be many, many miles. Those members who are here from the former Borough of Limavady will remember that whenever Seagate closed it affected everybody from Inishowen and right across the whole North Coast. Obviously these were high paying, secure jobs and there is a geographic multiplier that comes with that. I suppose, in short, what I am saying is it not just in Ballymena. There are 500 suppliers to Michelin, and you can rest assured that some of those will be from our area.”