With news of Allergan job cuts to the fore, Cróna Esler caught up with Myles and Milo Staunton to gain their view on the situation.

Myles Staunton has spent much of his life fighting for industrial development in his hometown of Westport, first as a County Councillor, then as a TD and subsequently as a member of the Oireachtas. Following in his father’s footsteps, Myles Junior, known to many as Milo, was elected to Westport Town Council this year and has promised to continue his father's work.
Naturally, both Myles and Milo were devastated to hear the news of 325 job losses in Allergan, but each stressed to the Western People that Westport has benefited hugely from the American company and hoped that the people of Mayo would remember that fact.
Having been a member of Mayo County Council for a number of years, Myles left Ireland in 1970 and embarked on a scholarship in the University of California. During his time in the States, he was very involved with development issues.
“I was very concerned about Westport at the time. All I had been hearing were these wonderful stories about a big boom in Ireland, and Ireland doing so well but unfortunately this boom wasn't balanced throughout the country. In fact it was an exact mirror image of today,” he opined.
A number of prominent local families were responsible for serious industry coming to Westport in the 60s and 70s so the town had been relatively successful at that stage. Yet Myles readily admitted that he had a lot of trouble with the IDA in early years, when he tried to talk to them about Westport and its attributes.
“We don't have industrial traditions in this very limited indigenous Ireland so we're extremely dependent on the transfer of multinational companies, from the US specifically. But then, is Westport on the agenda for the IDA or is it not? Because if not, you're going nowhere. I think the situation today is probably even worse than then from what I can see,” he said.
Because of the current situation in Allergan, the issue of development is again to the fore and there are various groups and organisations looking into it. Milo pointed out that the statistics of the last IDA report clearly illustrate that the West of Ireland is very low on their agenda.
“Despite a target in the last report of locating 50% of all new Greenfield investment in the BMW region, just seven out of 20 IDA projects announced last year were based
outside Dublin and Cork. This is very significant.”
The Westport Town Councillor feels that a big part of this is the lack of political clout in the area and the absence of a Minister in Mayo. “For politicians in the local councils, our effectiveness is limited. We really are in need of a lot of political clout and it simply isn't there,” commented Milo.
But luckily, when Myles was on board in the ’70s, he was determined to overcome the odds and carried out great work whilst in California. “We had formed an industrial council in the town at that time and there were a number of prominent people in it. I put a proposal to them saying, ‘look, forget about the IDA bringing industry to Westport, we’ve got to go out and
sell our town abroad’,” he stated.
Myles explained that he was basing this idea on Galway’s success on the industrial market. However, it didn’t quite go according to plan, although he admitted that all the hassle paid off when Allergan eventually located in Westport. When Myles left Ireland, the IDA had promised help in the region, but on the ground it simply didn't happen.
With industry in mind, Myles acquired a directory of manufacturing companies in Southern California. Beckman Instruments was one of the companies on the list. They were a huge and sophisticated company in California, employing approximately 12,000 people.
Myles decided to call the Vice-President in charge of International Operations at Beckman and spoke to his assistant. After getting his message, the Vice-President sent a letter to Myles. “He got back to me and said ‘look, you told me you want to talk about Ireland, I see no particular possibility in going there but would be pleased to listen to the programme you want to present’.” An eager Myles visited the VP and spent half a day with him, explaining why Ireland, and the West in particular, would be attractive from an industrial point of view.
After coming back to Ireland later that year, Myles began a somewhat public attack on the IDA and it wasn’t long before the national media became interested in the situation. “The IDA told me that I was disgraceful and very unreasonable and questioned how I could expect them to bring industry in, if I was going public about negatives and being unfair,” he confided.
But about four months later, Myles was vindicated when a Sunday newspaper stated that Beckman corporation were locating in Ireland as a direct result of the promotional activity by IDA in California and were going to set up a plant in Galway. Naturally Myles was delighted that he was instrumental in bringing a major company to Ireland, but was perturbed that they hadn’t established their base in Westport.
"The Vice-President had invited me to go to see him. Some time later he was visiting a Beckman plant in Scotland and decided, obviously on the strength of the meeting with me, that he would fly into Dublin. However, he went into the IDA offices and they were open to every town in
Ireland except Westport," claimed Myles.
Michael Killeen was Managing Director of the IDA at the time and Myles had already had a number of rows with him about what had happened in the States. “But this proved everything so we went to him and said ‘look we were instrumental in this coming to Ireland, what about Westport?’ We were furious, we put all this work in, we bring this industry in and they didn’t even encourage them to come to our town, it was absolutely ridiculous. We kicked up a big row and
it went on national
television again so it was becoming a bit of a saga, there was about a year of it,” he explained.
In 1973, when Myles was elected to Government, he finally had a voice. His first appointment was with Michael Killeen in the IDA. When Myles addressed the issue of Westport with him, the MD was very concerned and promised that the IDA would promote Westport. One year on, there was still nothing happening but they were genuinely trying.
Myles made an appointment to meet Michael again and it was at this meeting that a firm commitment was given to the TD. On the back of all the agitation from the Beckman incident, Michael stated that if the town didn’t have a major industry within two or three months, the IDA would construct a factory in Westport.
He subsequently gave instructions, in Myles’ presence, to the man in charge of Real Estate in the IDA, to build a factory in Westport. Myles then received a letter from Michael Killeen confirming the work (see letter). The 20,000 square foot advance factory was built and a few months after the construction had started, Allergan were brought into town.
The decision by Allergan to locate in Westport was no coincidence. Following Myles’ antics in the US and his subsequent election to Government, they were left with no option but to entice
industry to Mayo.
Allergan’s arrival in Westport made a massive difference to the town at the time. Agriculture was going into decline and the small farm pattern was beginning to emerge, as farmers were combining farming with work in the town. On top of the immediate impact, the plant had a huge impact on the rural hinterland.
However, the former TD did point out that in his opinion, the problem with Mayo is that if you achieve relative success, you are damaging yourself in the long term, reflecting that nothing has happened in Westport since Allergan's arrival.
Milo did however tell the Western People that at present the Council are calling for meetings with the various TDs and Oireachtas members in the county in an effort to encourage more industry to the town. “At the last meeting I tried to bring it a little bit further. I proposed that we should have a meeting and not only should we have the TDs there but we should have senior representatives from the IDA and from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. These people should come and meet with us and listen to our concerns,” he said.
Continuing he drew on the fact that there will shortly be a new IDA business park in Westport with an investment of approximately E3million. “The people of Westport are really feeling the need for it and have to be given some firm and concrete plans, in particular in relation to the filling of the IDA Business Park,” voiced Milo.
The Westport Town Councillor stressed that we mustn’t look negatively on the IDA in Westport at present. “A significant allocation has been put in place for the new IDA Business Park which is great. I am convinced that if we start filling it in the right way and get one or two good names in, that will attract further investment,” he stated.
Like his father, Milo also further praised
Allergan, stating that the county should remember that the company has traded in the town for 27yrs and effectively owe Westport nothing. “We are honoured and privileged to have a company like Allergan in our town and to be able to hold onto it in these very hard times, where there's low cost bases out in Asia and Eastern Europe. The fact that the MD has come out and said that 630 jobs are secure is a fabulous achievement. Allergan is not a negative story, it’s a fantastic story and will continue to be,” he said.
Myles reiterated his son's statement. "In a way Westport has too many eggs in the one basket all of these years. We haven’t proactively looked for more investment.”
Concluding, Milo spoke of the future of Westport and what the job losses will mean to the town. Although both father and son were disheartened when they heard the news initially, they both feel that there is light at the end of the tunnel and are confident that Westport will once again stand tall.
“Allergan's standards for employees has been second to none because it has to be and there's an extremely professional outfit in Allergan with very, very high standards. Granted there are 325 job losses pending but those jobs were filled by people who have received tremendous training and who, through no fault of their own, are losing the jobs. We could be negative about it but realistically, what this now means is that there are 325 people around the area who are very professional in their thinking,” he boasted.
“For Westport to be able to put forward a huge team of 325 people who have the Allergan standard of excellence in their mentality is brilliant and other companies are bound to recognise this. There is a huge workforce now available, who are ready and willing and ready to take on anything that comes their way,” confirmed Milo.