Black Christmas for Westmeath builders

Unemployment figures for Westmeath are set to soar come December when the government"s Farm Waste Management Scheme comes to an end.The numbers of builders and drivers left out in the cold could run into the hundreds as concrete firms and building contractors whose main income is found in supplying materials and completing work under the scheme will find little or no work elsewhere in the current economic climate.One contractor who does not wish to be named said that his company would be badly affected by the end of the scheme, which farmers had campaigned vigorously for an extension to.The firm which has more than 200 staff and 100 drivers will be hit hard as the scheme, under which 60 per cent of building costs are supplied by the government comes to an end.As well as materials suppliers the completion of building work under the scheme will also hit small businesses in Westmeath.David Smith who runs a building business in Bracklyn near Delvin said this week that he was already resigned to laying off his staff who have been told that their jobs are to go.'I have five lads at the minute and we will try our best to keep one on, but we are not sure if we can do that,' he said. 'It"ll be a black time for builders and suppliers come December when men who should have work will be going to the dole queues instead.'If the government had only extended the scheme to January or February we would not have been facing this situation at Christmas and the men would have had work for another few months.'We are flat out trying to get all the work done at the minute so that farmers in the area can have all the work done in time for the scheme drawing to a close.'I know of one firm that supplies concrete who sent out 40 trucks last week and 39 of them were delivering to farms. There is no other work for us at the moment as everything else in the trade has totally dried up. When this goes we will have nothing else.'At the minute we are engaged in building a shed in Collinstown which is a quarter of an acre in size and we are literally flat out trying to get it up in time.'The work is there and could have been spread out over several more months which would have meant no dole queue in December for a lot of the lads who are now facing it.'Deputy Willie Penrose who has campaigned strenuously on behalf of farmers on this issue said that the decision not to extend the scheme was indicative of the government"s 'bankruptcy' in dealing with the public.'It is no secret that this is going to hit us hard. We are talking about a significant number of jobs,' he said.'They could not take any more people for this scheme after those who applied in 2006, the applications were cut off and so it would not have cost them an extra penny.'Extending it to February would have made sure that people got over the dark Winter and things could have picked up by March or so we hope.'At the eleventh hour I appeal to the government to change this decision, legally there is no reason why they cannot.'