I sincerely thank you for allowing me to raise this matter and I also want to thank the Minister for coming in to reply. I wish to allocate some of my time to Deputy Treacy.
I raised this matter in the Dáil on 18 November and I asked the Minister for Agriculture if he would have discussions with the management of Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann to avert the scaling down of operations in the Tuam sugar factory. The Minister of State, Deputy Hegarty, replied as follows:
When the Government decided in December 1983 that the proposal of Siúicre Éireann to cease production of sugar at Tuam should not then be proceeded with, they indicated that a substantial saving in the cost of operating the factory must be achieved and that this would involve a significant reduction in the workforce.
However, the Minister did not answer the question I asked in regard to having discussions with the management and, even though I asked two further supplementary questions in relation to the scaling down of the factory, the Minister did not give any guarantees. The Minister said, sarcastically, that he was sure I paid rate heed to what the management said.
At a recent meeting of Macra na Feirme in Galway, the Chief Executive Officer of the Sugar Company said that unless the Tuam factory was closed down the sugar industry would collapse by 1990. The Minister of State, who attended the conference, said that the Tuam factory would not be closed until an alternative industry could be located in Tuam. That was not a very helpful statement by the Minister because over 2,500 people are unemployed in the greater Tuam area and it is not just a question of alternative employment but of providing a new industry.
I have noticed over the last few years that efforts have been made by the management of CSET to scale down operations in Tuam. Earlier this year, it was closed temporarily for two months, twice as long as the factory in Thurles, but that was the longest closure in the history of the company. Can the Minister say if there will be further closures of a temporary nature in 1987 which may last for three or four months? There is no representative from Tuam or indeed from any part of County Galway on the board of CSET; 140 jobs have been lost in the Tuam factory over the last four years and none of the £70 million capital which was voted in the Houses of the Oireachtas in 1982 has been spent in Tuam. There has been no plant modernisation and there has now been a hasty decision to let 200 workers go when they were expecting a Christmas bonus. These people are mainly farmers who have already suffered cuts in their pay cheques as a result of the drop in beet yields because of bad weather.
The money voted here in 1982 gave confidence to farmers and, in 1983, beet acreage increased to 8,500, double the figure of the previous two years. However, the sugar company constantly knock Tuam and refer every year to a cost penalty of £3 million. Could the Minister find out why a cost penalty of £3 million is quoted every year by the management when this year there has been a smaller throughput of beet and costs have been cut in the factory over the last couple of years? It is about time that the company stopped using this figure, as local accountants and those on the workers' committee know that it is not true.
A hasty decision has been made to finish the beet campaign in Tuam. Beet was available for such a campaign to continue and the Minister should ensure that the factory in Tuam is treated in the same way as other factories. The campaign was supposed to continue until 12 December and, as late as last Friday, according to The Tuam Herald, sugar beet was dumped in the Tuam factory, weighed, reloaded and transported to Thurles. This was deplored by the unions who had fought strenuously to continue the beet campaign. It also amazed the local Minister of State, Deputy Connaughton. Who thought that the campaign would continue. Indeed, this was the view of all the public representatives in the east and west Galway areas.
It is time that a firm line was taken with the sugar company and that some of our questions are answered. It has been a particularly cruel blow to have a campaign lasting slightly longer than two weeks when, normally, it would continue up to Christmas. Hauliers have been told not to bring sugar beet to Tuam and to divert it to other factories which is a further indication of the scaling down of the factory in Tuam. I understand that samples of beet are being sent to other factories. I should like the Minister to give a guarantee that there will be no more temporary closures and laying off of staff. I understand there are proposals to reduce the office staff to eight employees by Christmas. A firm line must be taken with the sugar company because the Tuam factory is very important to the farmers in the areas who should be encouraged to grow beet. It is also very important to the workforce, business people and the whole community. The factory has given great employment and we want that to continue. Will the Minister have talks with the management regarding the scaling down of the company and try to ensure that the factory in Tuam will not be run down?