Deputy John Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny) gave me notice of his intention to raise on the adjournment the overnight closure by the British owners of the Glassform Company in Graiguenamanagh, County Kilkenny. Deputy Browne has five minutes to present his case and the Minister five minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - Closure of Kilkenny Company.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): Ba mhaith liom i dtosach mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leat as ucht an seans seo a thabhairt dom an t-ábhar seo a phlé.
I find it very difficult to think that in 1990 a firm could close down overnight in, as far as I am concerned, cowboy fashion. They simply called in one of their key workers who had been with them for six and a half years, at 6 o'clock on Sunday night, told him the company was closing the following morning and that the workers would be paid statutory redundancy at 11 a.m. on Monday. It is incredible that this could happen in 1990.
They did not consult the IDA from whom they got grants. They did not call in the union and, above all, they did not tell the workers that they had a problem. The question is, did they have a problem? Up to the year ending April 1990 they made a profit of £103,000, or they made a profit on their production line of £70,000. From April to November they ran at a loss of £4,000 but in fact, while they may blame the workers, I want to put it on record that any loss they had is because they could not make up their minds which way they were going to treat the glass. There is a treatment for glass called annealing and there is also unannealing, and they could not decide which way they wanted it. If they had four million items returned to them as being defective, I would suggest it was management's fault. If they had been advised that the old plant which supplied oxygen to them was out of date and was not producing the right oxygen, or if they were told that for about £10,000 they could provide the proper oxygen, I would suggest that the other 600,000 items they say were defective would not have been returned to them if they had acted on that advice.
I am absolutely flabbergasted that that could happen. They say that they packed up the equipment, they had it loaded, and they had done all this on the advice of the Employers' Federation. I would be amazed if this was true, if that is how our employers look on workers in this day. All the statutory payments were ready a week ago. Everything was done in advance. It was the same as pulling a trapdoor on the workers. It is not good enough and I sincerely hope the Minister will make sure that this company pay back every penny they have got in grants and will also make every effort to ensure that job possibilities continue there. I have been informed that one standing order from one company alone would keep ten workers going all the time.
There were 18 workers there. It might sound a small number, but 18 workers in Graiguenamanagh would be the equivalent of a couple of hundred workers in a normal sized town. This is something the area cannot put up with. I would like to ask why this company that had made money up to last April should suddenly decide that they would not improve the oxygen supply for the glass treatment; why, for the first time, they just did not service the machinery this summer; and why they would import a machine costing over £60,000 and leave it on the floor because the oxygen was not right, and then do nothing about it. Could it be that they had planned in the summer to disappear?
How much money was paid in grants to this company? I believe there was £.25 million, and they were supposed to take on 40 workers when they were given these grants. Is this true?
On a positive note, what are the possibilities of the workers taking over this venture? If there are locals who are prepared to do that, what help can they get? If that cannot be done, will the Minister assure me that the IDA will do everything possible to get a replacement industry for this town because 18 jobs in a town the size of Graiguenamanagh is a major loss?
Glassform Limited, Graiguenamanagh, County Kilkenny, was, originally, an overseas small industry owned by Anchar Glass, a UK company from London which no longer control the operation. The company is now represented in Ireland by a Mrs. Rosen. Glassform Limited was approved for IDA grant assistance in 1980. The contingent grant liability period now appears to have expired. Grants approved and paid to the company were as follows: capital grants, £45,274; training grants £21,361.
Mrs. Rosen from the parent company is in charge of the closure. The IDA contacted her and she responded to the IDA regional office in Waterford today by stating that machinery was being returned from the factory to the UK this week. However, this machinery is not now being moved pending a meeting between the IDA legal representatives and company representatives tomorrow.
The company has a 25-year lease on an IDA 7,000 square foot factory. It is the company's intention to return this building to the IDA. When the building is returned to the IDA it will of course be vigorously promoted by them. The company manufactured laboratory glasses and test tubes and over the last three years, employed on average 15 people. These test tubes are manufactured from raw glass material. Recently the company has been the subject of intense competition from Japan and the Far East. These companies have been producing low cost plastic test tubes.
The workforce was advised on the morning of 19 November 1990 that the company was closing immediately and that the employees would be paid in lieu of notice. The IDA had no prior notice of the closure. Indeed, the first indication of the closure came from a member of the local community. The main reasons for the closure given by Mrs. Rosen to the IDA were that they had production problems resulting in £30,000 worth of stock being returned to the plant because of poor quality. She stated that this money is now completely lost.
Even though the number of workers is very small indeed, I agree with the Deputy that in a very small place like this it has an impact on the locality. For that reason, and now that the factory premises will be available, the IDA will make every effort to have it filled once again at an early date. I hope it will be possible for some indigenous industry, perhaps from the locality, to occupy it in the future.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): Would the Minister agree that the loss of the £30,000 was the fault of the management and not the workers?
We cannot resume the debate. It was concluded by the Minister's reply.
I cannot say. I really know nothing about the matter other than what I am told. There was some production problem there, or so it was claimed.