asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is satisfied that a merger in County Offaly (details supplied) will be in the best interests of the industry and if he will ensure that the present level of employment is maintained.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Offaly Industry Merger.
19.
I am satisfied that the merger is in the best interests of the industry and I am assured that employment will be maintained at the highest level consistent with economic operation on which the survival of the enterprise depends.
It is an amalgamation between GWI of Sligo and Cappincur Joinery Works, Tullamore. Is the Minister satisfied that the employment in Cappincur will continue at its present high level because a recent statement by an executive of the company did not say so?
The Deputy will be aware that there have been severe difficulties in both companies in recent years and that a great deal of public and other aid has been given to them. I am sure he shares with me the wish that the enterprises will be operated in a way that is economic. If that entails a small number of redundancies it is the condition of quaranteeing the safety of the jobs of the vast majority of the workers. It seems to me that economic operation is essential in the long term.
The Minister has said that a small number of jobs may be affected. Does he have any idea of the number? There has been some talk of 100 jobs being involved.
I have absolutely no information of numbers of that kind and as far as I am aware no firm proposals regarding redundancies have been put forward at present. It is a matter for the management. I am extremely concerned that the future of both enterprises be guaranteed by efficient operation. The Deputy will know that large amounts of public moneys were made available and it is essential on the basis of efficiency that they continue in operation and continue employing the vast majority of the work force. I do not possess any more details.
Tullamore is a depressed area and it depends considerably on Cappincur for the employment of male labour. Will the Minister ensure that there will be as few redundancies as possible?
I would be very happy if there were no redundancies in Tullamore. I can assure the Deputy that the very high level of care that has been given by all the State agencies to ensure the survival of both firms will be continued with the least possible damage to the work force.
I am calling Question No. 20.
I wish to ask a question on this matter.
I was hoping to proceed to the next question. However, the Deputy may put a brief supplementary.
I gather the new company are in receipt of £4 million from Fóir Teoranta. Will the Minister assure the House that the moneys they have received from the taxpayers will not be used to undercut other joinery works as they are doing already? Has he been made aware of the fact that this undercutting is going on, that other firms from Waterford, Meath and Limerick are in danger of going to the wall with resultant redundancies and unemployment for hundreds of people because of the practice of undercutting by these groups that have merged?
The Deputy is raising another matter.
I am raising a matter that may keep a few hundred people in work.
It is not strictly relevant to the question.
The Deputy will be aware that there has been surplus capacity in these industries in recent years and that the level of competition between all firms and at periods when these firms were competing with each other, because the merger is just going through, was very sharp and margins were pared very fine indeed. It is the continuous desire of the State agencies, the rescue agencies—the IDA, Fóir Teoranta and others—to ensure the survival of firms but it would obviously be self-defeating if it secured the destruction of other firms. They are expert enough and prudent enough to balance the rescue of one with guaranteeing the survival of another.
Would the Minister, because of the circumstances we are now facing with the Dáil being dissolved, be prepared to meet a number of people who were really worried because of the merger? Would he be prepared to meet them in the hope that none of those firms will be pushed out as a result of the £4 million made available by Fóir Teoranta to Cappincur and the GWI combine? I want to impress on the Minister that this is a matter of very great importance to the country.
We are afraid that GWI will squeeze us out.
Order. I am going on to the next question if Deputies do not co-operate.
Will Deputy Collins communicate with my Department?
If I see the evidence of the practice which he alleges then I will certainly see people connected with it.