asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the deterioration in the employment situation all over County Kildare; and if he will indicate any steps he has taken to improve this position.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment Situation.
2.
I am aware of the unemployment position in County Kildare. I have been informed by the Industrial Development Authority that a number of new industries have been approved for different towns in the county. Between them these projects have a potential of nearly 2,000 new jobs. Recruitment for two of these projects, one of which has a potential employment of 1,000 and the other of 600, has already begun.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that the promises of long-term solutions to this problem which he has now given and which echo promises by the Minister some months ago bear no relation to the reality of the situation in Kildare where firms have closed down recently? Would he let me know what plans he has for the immediate solution to this problem? Does he not realise that a leading firm in Kildare which kept workers in non-productive work for as long as there was a ray of hope of an improvement in the situation even in this year, have now decided that they must make workers redundant, and in this very month of July they have decided that there is no hope for the future? Can he explain why in a county where there was full employment two years ago there is unemployment everywhere now?
If we are to make any appreciable progress at Question Time today Members will have to be brief in their supplementaries and Ministers and Junior Ministers will have to be brief in their replies.
We must also say we have a situation of employment never experienced before.
I shall be as brief as possible in reply to Deputy Power. I do not know what company the Deputy is referring to, so obviously I could not comment on that. If he puts down a particular question, I shall be glad to deal with it. In respect of the two new industries I mentioned, Black & Decker are currently building a 169,000 square feet factory at Kildare. Production is due to commence in December of this year. Approximately 400 people will be employed in the first year of operation. The US pharmaceutical firm. Schackley, plan to start construction of a new factory at Newbridge at the end of this year. The projected employment for this industry at full production is 600 people. We are informed that Schackley have already commenced recruitment. This company have a 12-acre site at Newbridge.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the cosmetic firm that hoped to set up in Newbridge now find that the financial safeguards for guaranteeing this factory by the parent firm make it less attractive for them to set up in this country and that there is a chance they may not set up here? Would he not agree that one of the factories that has closed down in Newbridge, Newbridge Industries, made overtures to his Department and the Department of Social Welfare some months ago and that their offer would have created a situation in which employment premiums would have kept this factory open and have kept the work force there, but instead of that——
The Deputy is drifting into long questioning again. This is not good enough.
——the firm concerned have had nothing only hardship from his Department and the Department of Social Welfare who offered even——
(Interruptions.)
——if they continued with the practice which it was alleged they were carrying out at that time.
In regard to the latter part of the Deputy's question, I do not wish to go into any details in relation to this firm because labour difficulties exist here and any comment by me would not be helpful. However, I think there is no substance in what the Deputy has said in relation to the imposition of hardship by my Department.
With the permission of the Chair, I wish to raise this matter on the Adjournment and prove that what I say is correct.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
(Interruptions.)
The trade unions were not helpful and if Deputy Desmond is an example I can understand——
There is no need for disorder. I am calling Question No. 3.
3.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if, in order to create badly needed employment, he will consider ordering an oil rig from the companies being set up in west Cork and Mayo, which could in turn be sold to the firms prospecting for oil off this country's shores.
I am not aware that companies are being set up to build oil rigs. The Deputy may have in mind applications for planning permission to build production platforms which, of course, are required only when oil in commercial quantities has been located. I should add, in any event, that the purchase of equipment is a matter entirely for the oil companies themselves.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary tell the House if his Minister will consider taking some positive steps in this matter? Things are very bad in the country and it is disgraceful when people in this House introduce planted questions while workers are unemployed——
These references are not relevant.
The workers are being abandoned. Will the Parliamentary Secretary tell the House if there is any prospect of positive steps being taken to improve employment? There is the possibility of production platforms being produced in Cork and Mayo and, in view of the indication from the Minister that there is a strong probability of oil being found off our shore, could we not create jobs by placing an order with each of the companies concerned, thus giving hundreds of jobs in both areas?
The Deputy should put a brief question and allow the Parliamentary Secretary to reply.
The oil companies are being blamed and it is said it is a matter for them. We could sell these production platforms——
I would remind the Deputy that this is Question Time.
We could sell these production platforms to the oil companies. We could insist on their buying them from the State.
The Deputy may be under a misapprehension. There is a difference between an oil rig and a platform. An oil rig is a vessel used in exploration work for petroleum, and essentially it involves marine technology. The production platform, which is used in the actual extraction of the oil when it has been found, is a civil engineering job. The companies to which the Deputy has referred are in the latter category and would not be set up to deal with a demand for oil rigs.
The Minister has said there are jobs for Irish people. The Government should do something positive. The Parliamentary Secretary should do the honourable thing and resign.