Vol. 255 No. 7
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if firms planning to close down give advance notice to his Department; if he will state the total number of firms which in the last six months have notified him of their intention to close down; the total number of workers involved; and what measures, if any, have been taken to prevent such closures.
55.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce what representations were made to him in the past six months regarding the threatened closure of firms; from whom these representations came; and what action, if any, was taken.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 55 together.
It is not obligatory for firms to notify my Department of their intention to close. In some cases such notifications may be received; in others information about the likelihood of closure becomes available from official sources and through representations made by Deputies, other public representatives and trade unions. In all such cases my Department, together with the Industrial Development Authority and any other State body in a position to offer specialist assistance, endeavour to keep the firms in operation where this is possible by arranging an alternative line of production, seeking to bring about a merger or, where this is not possible, seeking to secure the establishment of a new industry to take the place of the firm which is closing down.
In the last six months 11 definite notifications were received of intention to close and the number of workers involved in the proposed closures was about 680.
Can the Minister state how many workers were declared redundant out of that number? What information has he regarding alternative employment for those workers to date?
No. I have no background information on the lines requested by the Deputy?
Are we to take it that the Minister is not interested in that kind of background information? He knows how many have been declared redundant and he does not know whether they have found alternative employment.
It would be wrong to convey the impression that the Minister is not interested. On the question put down by the Deputy's colleague one could not anticipate this type of supplementary and therefore I have not got that information.
Can the Minister state if that figure represents the number who have been declared redundant or the number of firms in which closure was threatened?
I said in my reply that "in the last six months 11 definite notifications were received of intention to close and the number of workers involved in the proposed closures was about 680".
Have they all been declared redundant as yet and, if not, what is the proportion?
The 11 firms indicated that all their employees are redundant from the point of view of their former employment but I understand that a number of them have been reemployed.
Can we take it that that is the total number who have become redundant in the past six months?
No.
They were the only cases of which the Minister was notified?
Yes, where I had definite notification.
Would it be fair to ask the Minister if he has even a mild curiosity in the effect of these redundancies and does he know exactly what alternative employment there is? Would it be fair to describe the Minister's attitude as one of complacency and a lack of interest in what happens these workers because he has not this information in his brief?
Could the Minister give us the range of industries involved? He mentioned 11 notifications. Is it textiles, or footwear, or the electronics industry? Could he give us a rough indication of the industries affected?
In the list I have in front of me there is only one textile industry and no footwear industry.
What six-month period is involved?
The question asked for the total number in the last six months.
