asked the Minister for Labour whether he has any plans to secure alternative employment for employees of two companies (names supplied) in County Cork in the event of these firms closing permanently.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Cork Firms.
15.
I have been in regular contact with the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy about the future of these firms and their workers since the threat of closure first became known. The Minister concerned, the IDA and the official liquidator are doing all they can to have the two companies sold as going concerns in order to preserve as much as possible of the existing employment. The position in this connection is affected to some extent by an industrial relations problem on which the liquidator has been having discussions with trade union representatives up to as recently as 1st November. If, however all efforts to sell the enterprises as going concerns are not successful, extra endeavours will be made to provide compensating new industry in the area.
I have arranged that the facilities of AnCO and of the National Manpower Service will be fully available to any workers made redundant to help them to find new jobs in other new and expanding projects in Cork.
Can the Minister say whether there are any concrete inquiries regarding the taking over of these firms as going concerns?
That is a matter for a different Minister but I understand that interest is still being expressed by people in these concerns and that discussions are still being held in this regard.
Taking into consideration the prospect of the payment of about £50,000 by way of redundancy to the workers in these factories and having regard to the line taken by the Minister when he was on this side of the House—that it is preferable wherever possible to use the money to maintain firms in operation—why has he not adopted that attitude since taking office?
Every effort has been made and will continue to be made to sell these firms as going concerns and to maintain them. Government agencies will assist to this end and the IDA have been extremely active in the matter. As the Deputy is well aware, problems were created as far back as June 10th and the difficulty was aggravated by the fact that the top management of the companies were not based in this country. Consequently, it was difficult to make contact with anybody who was in a decision-making position.
That is not right. The parent company were based abroad but the top management were here.
That is so.
But the top management were here all the time.
The parent company went into liquidation on June 10th and from there on there was a breakdown in contact with any management who might have been in a decision-making position.
That is not quite so. Would the Minister not agree that there was a local board of directors and a local management team in each of the firms concerned? Some time in August a liquidator was appointed but before his appointment any member of the local board would have been in a decision-making situation.
The liquidator was not appointed until October. His appointment has changed the situation. Prior to that the local directors were not in a decision-making situation. The Deputy ought to know this.
The Minister should know that the local directors were capable of making a decision.