Irish economy - are there clouds ahead?

Dell's new polish plant will have a manufacturing facility of 600,000 sq ft in size. The Limerick plant is 400,000 sq ft in size.

They will have more than double the current manufacturing capacity in a couple of years and at this time it looks extremely unlikely they will need all that capacity in Europe.

Not good for expensive Ireland.

It's estimated that over 20,000 irish jobs depend on Dell and Dell exports from Ireland are worth more than agriculture and tourism combined.

http://www.unison.ie/business/stories.php3?ca=80&si=1670510
 
That's interesting stuff, Remix. Not a surprise though. Might be a good place to buy a house!! Dell are worth a fortune to the Irish economy, and will be worth a fortune wherever they go. It is such a shame we are so reliant on foreign companies and haven't invested in building Irish industry at all.
 
The Irish plant will go into direct competition with the Polish one. It'll be interesting to see if Ireland's higher cost operation can compete.

More Dell news.



Dell to announce quarter-year profits 30% below expectations this Thursday.
 
And more Dell news!



Not such a reliable source though. The date is interesting though considering the recall annouced today.
 
Howitzer said:
And more Dell news!



Not such a reliable source though. The date is interesting though considering the recall annouced today.
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Batteries from Dell have have been recalled before due to fears that they might explode! I don't think Dell have actually had a battery explode on a customer though.
 
This Dell pc Im using is just over 1 year old and the cd/dvd drive is shagged. even though it it was barely used.Their quality is crap and they are losing customers everywhere to hp etc.Im not surprised they are in trouble.Remember the guaranteed irish campaign years ago Yeah! Guaranteed Crap!!!
 
I bought a pc from dell last year and the motherboard went belly up after 1 week.
I was supposed to get a free mp3 player as part of the deal (one of the reasons i went for it) but they sent me a webcam instead.
Rang them up and told them i didn't ask for or want a webcam where's me mp3 player,"sorry there all gone" ,"we'll give you an extended warranty instead"
Never heard anything back,emailed them twice no reply.
Won't be buying a Dell again i can tell you !.
 
My Dell laptop was the worst purchase ever. Required over €300 worth of repairs about a month after the one year warranty expired. They refused to pay for the repairs and gave the helpful suggestion of repairing the piece of junk and then taking out an expensive 3 year warranty!

However, you could just do what I did. Go short on the companies stock. The profit from doing so comfortably exceeded the cost of the repairs! :D

The fact that Dell is our largest exporter and private sector employer but is such a dog of a company makes me feel distinctly uneasy.
 
the leaving cert results this year also are not bright omens for the future. The high failure rates in maths and sciences. Also the reduced numbers taking these subjects at leaving cert. Students don't see the point in studying these subjects in building site ireland. Also they are not prepared to put in the effort required when the job market doesn't seem to demand. To add insult to injury the minister for education is asking the colleges to accept foundation level maths rather than addressing the core problem, that might upset the teachers.
 
Whenever things got rough in the past there was the option of emigration - to the USA, to the UK or to teaching or engineering work in the Gulf or Africa. This is - on the whole! - no longer an option with globalisation and a very changed economic situation with massive migrant populations following the multinationals. Can anyone think of a pathway to economic stability for younger Irish men and women if (more likely when - 3 - 5years time!) the economic landscape becomes very bleak. They can't (for example) follow Dell to Romania or Poland because of the language barrier. "What next?".....cried Plato's ghost/"What next?"
 
Marie said:
Whenever things got rough in the past there was the option of emigration - to the USA, to the UK or to teaching or engineering work in the Gulf or Africa. This is - on the whole! - no longer an option with globalisation...
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I would have to disagree entirely with this. If anything it is infinately easier to give serious thought to emigration today than it was in the past, you're no longer limited to the States/UK but many are enjoying Australia and New Zealand too not to mention the entire EU now available to those wishing to leave Ireland. Much cheaper air travel/telephone calls/email etc. makes emigration a less daunting thought today too since it is easier to keep in touch with home.

We've been making provisional plans for some years and the point i made above means we've had the leisure of exploring potential spots long ahead of actually making a move.
 
Marie said:
They can't (for example) follow Dell to Romania or Poland because of the language barrier. "What next?".....cried Plato's ghost/"What next?"
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Nail on the head here. Instead of trying to force mathematics down the throats of students who clearly have no interest and/or aptitude, schools and universities would be much better off concentrating on teaching languages, particularly European languages. And not just to Arts students but also to electronics and engineering and science students.

As you point out, Marie, there is no point in teaching electronics to ever-higher degrees if the graduates don´t speak the language of where the jobs are.

I don´t mean to learn Romanian or Polish but the universities should be turning out people with, say, electronics AND German or French or Spanish, including the technical vocabulary (especially the technical vocabulary), not just how to order a meal and a glass of wine.

Knowing a second language is no big deal in Europe and Irish people will have to compete with Polish and Romanian engineers who also know German or Hungarian as English is a given these days.

Improved language skills would make Ireland a more attractive place for investment from Europe (as well as the States and elsewhere) and improve the mobility of Irish people and companies, one of the goals of the EU.

I am well aware that English is the international language of business but within national borders most business is in the language of the country, and if we want a piece of that we have to speak the lingau.
 
dontaskme said:
Nail on the head here. Instead of trying to force mathematics down the throats of students who clearly have no interest and/or aptitude, schools and universities would be much better off concentrating on teaching languages, particularly European languages. And not just to Arts students but also to electronics and engineering and science students.

As you point out, Marie, there is no point in teaching electronics to ever-higher degrees if the graduates don´t speak the language of where the jobs are.

I don´t mean to learn Romanian or Polish but the universities should be turning out people with, say, electronics AND German or French or Spanish, including the technical vocabulary (especially the technical vocabulary), not just how to order a meal and a glass of wine.

Knowing a second language is no big deal in Europe and Irish people will have to compete with Polish and Romanian engineers who also know German or Hungarian as English is a given these days.

Improved language skills would make Ireland a more attractive place for investment from Europe (as well as the States and elsewhere) and improve the mobility of Irish people and companies, one of the goals of the EU.

I am well aware that English is the international language of business but within national borders most business is in the language of the country, and if we want a piece of that we have to speak the lingau.
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I would have to totally disagree with this suggestion. You are suggesting that third level education should be directed at giving skills to people for immigration. That was essentially what happened in the 80s although it was hardly desirable. Students should be encouraged to do engineering and science for the benefit of this country and to try and generate a home grown technology industry. The reason why less people are doing these courses at third level is because they are among the toughest and most demanding courses. They are also at the coalface of globalisation which means that job security is not as good as in other protected areas of the economy. If you force these students to along with their already demanding schedules to also take on a foreign language you would just force more students away from studying them. Also what would be the point in having arts courses if you forced engineering and science students to study some of their couses also. The logical follow up to this would be to force arts students to study some engineering and science courses and thats where this argument dies
 
Archie said:
Where in Poland will Dell be based please?
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Unit acquired in Lodz.

They acquired 600,000 sq ft of premises (plus 300K sq.ft for support services).

Above footage is 50% more than Limerick. Quite worrying really.

Dell announced their results Thursday night. Profits almost half. Pressure on costs and margins. Share price still tanking. They need a lower cost base than Ireland. Polish move very ominous !
 
joe sod said:
I would have to totally disagree with this suggestion. You are suggesting that third level education should be directed at giving skills to people for immigration. ... If you force these students to along with their already demanding schedules to also take on a foreign language you would just force more students away from studying them. Also what would be the point in having arts courses if you forced engineering and science students to study some of their couses also. The logical follow up to this would be to force arts students to study some engineering and science courses and thats where this argument dies
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I don´t think students should necessarily be forced to study anything, they could be given the option to do it and if the marks are available appear to be easier than alternative technical subjects they might choose that.

I wouldn´t think of it as emigration or immigration but as moving within Europe.

Anyway, it would make Ireland a more attractive location for German or French technical companies if they thought they could get the graduates with the language skills within Ireland.

What would be the point of Arts courses? Now you´re asking :D Well, if they got up to speed on the technical vocabulary it would be useful for their careers also.
 
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