asked the Minister for Industry and Energy the urgent steps he now proposes to take to prevent the imminent closure of the Athlone Manufacturing Company Limited where 71 jobs are at risk.
Private Notice Question. - Athlone Manufacturing Company.
As the Deputy may be aware, a receiver was appointed to this company on 2 February 1983 at the instance of a major creditor. It is for the receiver to decide in such a situation whether to maintain production and employment. I understand the receiver has decided because of the company's financial circumstances and shortages of raw material that he has no alternative but to cease production before the end of this week and to make the workers redundant.
I regret this development. I am asking the IDA to maintain vigorous efforts to have the assets of the company taken over by a suitable purchaser with a view to the resumption of employment as soon as possible.
Is the Minister fully aware of the gravity of the situation and the viability of the Athlone section of this company? Further, is he aware that there is in Athlone in that company a trained workforce in the plastics industry? Athlone has a reputation as a plastics centre for industry. Is the Minister aware that this company has been in existence since 1970, that it employs 71 people and is a major contributor to the economic life of the town? Can he give me an assurance that the factory will not be closed on Friday?
I will take the last point first. As the Deputy is aware, it is not in my power to give an assurance as to what might be done in the case of a private concern of this kind. The Deputy referred to the number employed and the date of commencement. Actually, it is the other way around: the factory was founded in 1971 and has 70 employees. I accept what the Deputy has said with regard to the considerable trained workforce in Athlone in the plastics sector. I am aware that studies have been done by the IDA on the viability of the firm on its own, independent of other features, both as to the debts it has and to its previous association with another firm that has since closed. I can assure the Deputy that the positive features of this operation to which she has referred, and which the IDA have studied already on their own initiative and prior to this development, will be borne in mind by the IDA in the discussions they are now having with a view to having the company taken over by a suitable purchaser so that employment may be resumed as soon as possible.
In view of the urgency of the matter, will the Minister bring his considerable powers to bear on the IDA and the agencies concerned to see that the company is kept open, if that is possible?
I will continue the interest I have already in this matter. As the Deputy may be aware, the Government have displayed an interest in the matter. Certainly I will convey that continuing interest on my part and also the concern the Deputy has expressed. I have just been informed that, slightly in divergence of what I have already said, the receiver is going to try to dispose of the assets as a going concern. That news has come to me in the past ten seconds and it is a slight improvement on what I have said already.
May we take it from the latest information that the firm will not close on Friday?
The Deputy might be well advised to listen to what I said. I said the receiver is now going to try to dispose of the assets as a going concern. Obviously the eventuality to which the Deputy has referred depends on his success in that regard.
In other words, the firm will close on Friday?
I think the Deputy heard what I said in response to the first and second questions.
I did. I am merely asking, is the firm going to close on Friday?
That depends on the success——
In other words, the Minister is going to sit there and let a firm go, one that we know is viable. He has rescue agencies at his disposal but he is leaving it to the receiver——
That is not a question. I am calling Deputy Eileen Desmond.
I wish to give notice of my intention to raise on the Adjournment the question of the loss of 210 jobs at Carrigaline pottery factory which has gone into liquidation.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.