I have given permission to Deputy Enright to raise this subject on the Adjournment. The Deputy has 20 minutes.
Adjournment Debate. - Tullamore Factory Closure.
I am thankful to the Chair for being allowed to speak on this matter in the House tonight. Today, on the outskirts of Tullamore, a large meeting was held by the workers employed in Cappincur Joinery because of the imminent closure of this firm. The workers are concerned because next Friday a group of those workers are being let go permanently. This firm at one period employed approximately 300 people and are due to close their doors finally on 23 January next. This is a serious blow to all the workers concerned, the people in the surrounding locality and the town of Tullamore. It will mean a loss now of 83 permanent jobs, 78 men and five women in the Cappincur Joinery. Job opportunities in this area are very limited and it will be quite a while before those workers can obtain permanent employment.
This firm was opened originally by the Spollen Brothers in the early sixties in a small way. It was taken over by the Mclnerney Group and later on by GWI, Collooney. This firm made doors and windows and also roof trusses. The roof trusses section was transferred to the GWI factory in Collooney. This factory will close unless immediate action is taken. The skills of the people employed in this firm, which were built up over the past 20 years, will be lost. This firm had a small beginning but it was built up into a household name throughout the country. It is a tragedy to see a firm like this closing.
The workers are very critical of the parent firm because of their intention to remove all the machinery and plant and leave nothing except the factory premises for sale. It is not good enough to allow this to happen. If the Government are serious and they make a determined effort I believe with the help of the IDA and Fóir Teoranta those jobs could be kept in existence until the firm are taken over as a going concern. It is very important to every person employed in this factory that this should be done. It is also of importance to the people of Tullamore and the surrounding area. I ask the Minister to do everything possible to see that this factory is taken over as a going concern.
It is important to look at the general situation in regard to this firm. Some timber was imported to make the doors and windows in this factory but the vast majority of the raw materials were native. The cost of imports for this firm was very small. It is important for the Minister to bear this in mind. We have not many firms involved in the joinery business. The two largest are GWI in Collooney and Cappincur Joinery. There are also some small firms employed in the joinery business who are managing to survive. It is important that those firms are helped to survive the difficulties we are going through at the moment. If this is not done we will have to import a lot of those doors and windows. It would be a tragedy if we had to do this when we have people in the country with the ability to manufacture those items.
Was the Deputy on to the Department before this?
The IDA made projections in regard to jobs in this area and in regard to jobs throughout the country. Between 1973 and 1977 the employment situation remained more or less static in this area. There was a projected job creation between 1978 and 1982 of 1,800 for Offaly, 1,250 for the Tullamore, Carragh and Edenderry areas and 550 for the Birr, Banagher and Kilcormac areas. We are now at the end of 1980 and it is obvious that these targets will not be achieved unless positive action is taken by the Government to secure new projects in 1981 and 1982 and unless the Minister takes steps to maintain employment in existing firms.
Offaly has been ignored as regards the decentralisation programme. This would have been of benefit to many firms. It is important to ensure that firms are given help and assistance in their hour of need to get them over the difficult period in which they find themselves. If not a serious situation will develop. I hope something will be done quickly about this firm. It is important because of the job opportunities that are there. Unless something is done the projections made by the IDA will not be maintained.
One of the biggest firms in Tullamore, Burlington, announced recently that their Irish operation has gone through considerable difficulty. They stated that while there will be no redundancies in the Tullamore-Longford area there will be natural job wastage. The IDA were basing their forecasts to some extent on the way Burlington was going.
Did the Deputy make representations to me before now about this?
The Minister will have an opportunity to reply and should not interrupt me.
The Deputy, without interruption.
As regards stage 2 of the Burlington project it was anticipated that they would double their capacity. Unless things improve for them they will not be able to do this. The Minister will have to take this into account. I hope they will maintain employment at its existing level. However, according to Burlington's statement they will not be doubling their capacity as had been envisaged. The work force was to have doubled from 300 to 600.
The Deputy is straying away from the subject matter of the question.
It is important that these 83 jobs are maintained because if this firm closes and the plant and machinery are taken from it, it will be difficult to set up a similar type industry in the factory premises. I hope the firm continues as a going concern.
It is important to maintain industries in Offaly. A firm closed in Birr recently and this one is to close next month. I appreciate that this firm is a private one and that the Minister is limited in what he can do. However, closure of firms is a serious matter for the localities concerned. The IDA may be able to provide help and assistance. Fóir Teoranta can provide proper financial help and technical assistance. We will face a serious situation if firms of this kind which have existed through difficult times are to close now. The Minister should use his good offices to ensure that the IDA take immediate action to see if some positive help can be given to the firm.
I am not fully acquainted with the financial affairs of the firm. I have not had access to their accounts, but one of the main factors that will cause concern is the removal of the plant and machinery. It is not as if it were some kind of rationalisation project. The closure of the firm will have serious repercussions. This area and the county in general have experienced savage job losses. To see a firm that had been expanding closing down is a serious matter. I hope some positive effort will be made to save it. Further meetings will be taking place about this matter and Offaly County Council discussed it yesterday. It was discussed at a workers' meeting today. I hope the Minister will ensure that some positive action is taken immediately and that he will be helpful and positive in his reply.
As a Deputy living only six miles from Tullamore I am deeply concerned about the closure of the Cappincur Joinery which is situated one mile from the town centre. Like Deputy Enright, I hope every effort will be made by the Minister and Fóir Teoranta to help out in the serious development which has taken place in the past few days. I have already been in contact with the Minister, the Department and the IDA. I received assurances from them that every effort will be made by them to attract a suitable industry into this building if the closure takes place. Naturally I hope it will not and that the company, GWI, Collooney, will receive some help.
Deputy Enright mentioned job creation in the Tullamore area but during the period of the National Government in 1973-77 one could count on two hands the number of jobs created in the area but since Fianna Fáil came to office there have been 500 more——
That is not sufficient reason to allow 83 to go now.
——new jobs in the Tullamore area.
Unfortunately that is history. The Deputy should be more relevant.
I hope the Minister will help in this matter. The Deputy mentioned figures about job creation in Tullamore and that is the reason I mentioned it. The Deputy should look back on the figures for the time of the National Coalition. However, I hope the Minister will endeavour to prevent this closure.
Like Deputy Enright, it does not give me any pleasure to get up here and talk about a factory that is about to close. Cappincur Joinery has been in operation in Tullamore for many years. It is a tragedy in any area when jobs are lost. Even one job loss is too much.
During the last recession Cappincur in common with others in the joinery sector ran into severe financial difficulties. GWI in Colloonery also ran into difficulties at that time and because Fóir Teoranta had considerable investments in both companies, they promoted the idea of a merger in order to prevent cut-throat competition between them which would eventually result in the closure of both companies. The merger came about in 1977 and after a lot of rationalisation and reduction in employment the merger group traded profitably until late 1979 when the present recession began to pinch. Short-time working was introduced in both plants and this has continued practically during the whole of 1980. As a result, the profits of the merged group fell by about 70 per cent in the year ended 30 September last.
In order to prevent further deterioration of the position, bringing about the closure of both plants, the company have now decided to close the Tullamore plant, causing 83 redundancies. The manufacture of doors and door frames will now be transferred to Collooney where 20 additional workers will be employed bringing the work force up to 170. The company have stated that reduced demand for joinery is the single most important cause of the closure. The facilities available to GWI are more modern than those in the Tullamore plant and accordingly the company have decided to centralise production in the GWI plant in Collooney.
Fóir Teoranta state that the company's decision to close the Tullamore operation, though not unexpected, is regrettable: the company were always likely to come under pressure in the event of a fall-off in trade — I have been quoting from the Fóir Teoranta statement. Both Fóir Teoranta and the IDA advise that since the merger in 1977 the company have been attempting to diversify and to expand production in order to take up the slack at the two plants. These efforts have not been successful. At the outset of this debate I asked Deputy Enright a simple question, when was he in touch with the Department? He did not answer me.
I have been in touch with the IDA
Every Deputy for the area has been making representations but it seems Deputy Enright did not wake up to the position until a few days ago. I always have suspicions of people who come along at the last minute to try to make political gain.
What does the Minister intend to do about it?
The Government, through the IDA, are trying to help industry in that area. In a debate earlier I spoke about our interest in maintaining and encouraging indigenous small industries, and SFADCo in the mid-west are to take in an area in west and south-west Offaly. I am aware this will not take in Cappincur but the Government are concerned about the need for industrial improvement in the area. The Government and the IDA are only too willing to help if at all possible and as far as industries in that area are concerned the Deputy is pushing an open door.
There have been some complaints about imports of joinery, but because the greatest volume of these imports comes from the EEC there is no action open to me to prevent them. Earlier this year the EEC examined the question of dumping of doors from Taiwan, but the complaint was not sustained.
In the light of the closure of the Tullamore plant the IDA will promote the premises as a matter of urgency for a new project. In addition, they will be promoting a new, 27,000 square foot factory in the town. Employment in manufacturing industry in Tullamore at the end of last June was, 1,587 compared with 1,369 in 1973, an increase of 218. Employment in manufacturing in Offaly during the same period increased by more than 300. The IDA will continue to promote Tullamore, and Offaly in general, as a location for new industry.
The Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism met a deputation from Offaly County Council last June and informed them that the IDA were confident that their employment target of 1,800 jobs for the area in the period 1978 to 1982 would be achieved and I have no reason to contradict that forecast. It is inevitable that during a recession certain vulnerable industries will run into difficulties and the only alternative in such circumstances is to promote other industries to replace those that may have to be closed. This will continue to be the IDA policy.
The Dáil adjourned at 10.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 17 December 1980.