The glass firm, Ardagh, is to close its glass bottling plant at Ringsend in Dublin with the loss of more than 300 jobs. The plant is the only glass recycling facility in the Republic.
The announcement was made as the company - formerly known as the Irish Glass and Bottle Plant - released annual results for last year showing that pre-tax profits were halved to €2.4m. The company said that although a restructuring plan had been agreed at Ringsend, it could not get sufficient orders from its major customers to ensure the viability of the plant.
The General Manager of Rehab Recyling, Bob Rowat, said the closure pulled the rug out from under a £127m recycling initiative announced by Noel Dempsey last month. That initiative was largely based on raising the amount of glass collected from bring banks.
Mr Rowat said it was not economic to export glass to Europe for recycling and it was up to the government to step in now and take a role.
