I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £50,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of the March, 1959, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, including certain Services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain Subsidies and sundry Grants-in-Aid.
The House will recollect that I stated earlier in the year when the plans for the reorganisation of the Dundalk works were under discussion here that, if we found any of the wage grade staffs formerly employed there could not be fitted into the new organisation, it would be my intention to put the company in a position to do something about the situation by way of ex gratia payments to the workers concerned. At that time we had in mind the possibility that some of the former employees of the G.N.R. would not, for one reason or another, be taken on by any of the new commercial companies to be set up. While we visualised the possibility of some dislocation of employment at Dundalk during the process of rebuilding and re-equipping the shops, the extent of the possible dislocation could not then be fully measured.
When it became clear that the process of rebuilding and re-equipping would cause a degree of dislocation involving the laying-off of some workers for a time, the board, in consultation with me, decided to assist the workers concerned by the way of interim weekly payments to them under the description of "stand off pay" to supplement the unemployment insurance benefit to which they would normally be eligible on being laid off. I undertook to move an Estimate here to recoup the company in respect of that outlay.
It will be appreciated that this company will in character and in fact be a private enterprise. Conceivably it could meet the cost of these payments out of its own resources but in view of the desire to ensure that it will not be saddled with any unproductive outlay and that it will be given every opportunity of developing successfully. I think that, in all the very special circumstances of this case, we are justified in putting this charge on the national Exchequer.
In the case of permanent redundancy, the board are not yet in a position to state with any precision the extent that it may have but all the indications are that it will not be very considerable and that the number of workers to whom they will make these special payments will be less than 5 per cent. of the original staff employed at Dundalk. In their case, it is proposed to pay lump sums amounting to one month's pay for each completed year of service up to a maximum of 24. The rate of compensation will be calculated on the basis of the worker's basic pay at the termination of his employment and the calculation of the length of employment will not include any periods served as a trade apprentice. In the case of a worker with interrupted employment, a worker who for any reason was laid off during the time of his employment with the G.N.R. Company, his service will be reckoned as the total of two or more spells of employment with the G.N.R. and the Dundalk Engineering Works irrespective of the cause of the interruption of service. Any temporary absence due to illness of not more than one year's duration will be reckoned as service for the purpose of the calculation. The payments will be made in accordance with particulars furnished by the company and certified by their auditor in regard to all the workers concerned.
The position at the beginning of this month was that there were in employment at Dundalk 619 workers and a further 92 workers were in permanent employment elsewhere awaiting recall to Dundalk. The number of workers who were laid off during this reconstruction period was 256 and, of course, the period during which they will be disemployed will vary for different sections. The present position there is that the parent company, which will not now be called the Dundalk Engineering Works but the Industrial Engineering Company Limited, is proceeding to get these subsidiary undertakings organised into production.
As the House has been informed, there will be five such undertakings. There will be the Dundalk Engineering Works, which will be a commercial engineering concern; the Dalgan Steel Founders, Limited, which will operate the new steel foundry; a company called Frank Bonser and Company, Limited, which has been formed in association with a British company for the production of certain types of agricultural machinery and, in that respect, all the plant from the British works has already been transferred to Dundalk and is now being installed there. There will be the Heinkel Cabin Scooter Company and a company called Commercial Road Vehicles, which will be undertaking the production of heavy-duty road vehicles chassis. All these companies have now been registered and the company is striving to get them all into full commercial production as soon as possible.
The payments to workers, who are temporarily laid off, to supplement their unemployment insurance benefit were made for the first time at the beginning of this month but dated back to the 1st October last. The first payments were in respect of the eight weeks' period from 1st October to 26th November. I think that the amount provided by the Estimate will be more than adequate to meet the outgoings of the company in respect of these payments but, of course, only the actual amount so paid out by the company will be recouped by the Exchequer.
