asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state whether consideration by him and by the Industrial Development Authority, referred to in reply to a question on 24th November, 1949, of the serious unemployment problem which will follow the expected close down of a brewery in Kells, County Meath, has yet been completed; and, if so, if he will state the result thereof.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Closing of Kells Brewery.
The position of this brewery has been most exhaustively and sympathetically considered both by myself and by the Industrial Development Authority, and in the result I regret that I am unable to see what practical assistance can be given by the Government in the circumstances of this particular case.
Is the Minister aware that approximately 50 workers face immediate unemployment in Kells because of the threatened close down of this brewery? Is he further aware that this position has resulted from the fact that certain elements have secured a financial stranglehold on the brewery and will he give the matter further consideration with a view to seeing what other steps the Government can take to ensure that these people who now control the brewery and who apparently have no care whatever regarding employment in the town will see to it that the employment of these men is secured and that these men, whose only alternative——
The Deputy is making a speech and not asking a supplementary question.
I am asking that something be done to protect the employment of these 50 workers and to secure the livelihood of their families.
In reply to the last statement of the Deputy, everything that could possibly be done to secure that employment has been done. I should not like it to be suggested by the Deputy and should not like it to go abroad that anything that could possibly be done to keep this brewery going and the men in employment has not been done. No proposal that has come before my Department or before the Industrial Development Authority since its establishment has been so fully, so exhaustively and so sympathetically inquired into as this particular project.
Can the Minister say if it is a fact that during the war years, when no imported lager was coming into the country, the market was adequately supplied by this brewery and has he considered the possibility of stopping imports of lager to enable this brewery to carry on?
Every possibility has been considered.
Can the Minister say if that specific possibility has been considered?
Yes.