I am sorry, Deputy Deasy, the Minister's reply terminated the debate. I am now proceeding to item No. 3. Deputy Bill Cotter gave me notice of his intention to raise the matter of the continued closure of Ballybay Meats factory.
Adjournment Debate. - Ballybay (Monaghan) Meats Factory Closure.
I am requesting the Government to take steps to have the former Ballybay Meats factory reopened for business and I further request that as a prelude to this the Government immediately restore law and order in the town.
Ballybay Meats was officially opened at the end of April 1989. It was described at the opening ceremony as, and I quote, "a state of the art factory, the finest of its kind in Europe". It had a licence to export processed pigmeat across the world. The plant closed at the end of the first week in January 1990, some eight and a half months later and in the meantime it had accumulated substantial debts. The Department of Agriculture and Food subsequently carried out an internal inquiry into the circumstances leading to the closure. However, the results have never been made public and to this day the facts have never been established.
There have been rumours of fraud, shady dealing and unlawful practices. Government Ministers who must know the facts have maintained an eerie silence in this matter. Meanwhile the town of Ballybay remains in deep recession. The former owners and a few of their former employees are holding the town of Ballybay to ransom. They are strutting about the streets intimidating those who would oppose their bullying. These bullies are preventing access to the plant. They maintain an unlawful guard in a caravan at the gate and recently a load of clay was dumped which completely blocked the entrance. The bullies disclaimed complete responsibility for this, yet when the members of the local chambers of commerce tried to remove the clay a few days ago they were prevented form doing so by this same group of heavies. This was followed by a spate of intimidating phone calls, and individual members of the chamber of commerce have been put in fear of their lives. The people of Ballybay and the members of the chamber of commerce want the factory reopened. They are not concerned about who does it as long as it is done.
I expect the Minister will be quite horrified at what I have told him. Indeed the people of the town and particularly the members of the chamber of commerce have reason to feel horrified by these activities. This group of unlawful activists have decided that no one will purchase the plant except the former owners. They have seen to it that this is widely known. The inference here, of course, is that prospective buyers should look to their own safety and get out of town. Is it acceptable that the peace-loving people of Ballybay should have to suffer this illegal, arrogant and ugly behaviour? Is it acceptable that employees of a security firm employed at the plant should have their persons and their cars attacked and abused? I ask the Minister to insist that this unlawful and arrogant posturing be rooted out? The Minister must insist that the caravan and its occupants be moved on from the gate and that the offensive placards which are on display there are removed. He must also see to it that prospective buyers are free to enter the factory premises in the course of their business.
This is a fine plant, capable of generating considerable wealth for the local community and capable of offering employment to large numbers of people. The town of Ballybay badly needs the jobs and the wage packets. It is the Minister's responsibility, indeed it is the Government's corporate responsibility to root out and silence those who seek to prevent the reopening of the factory through the use of blatant intimidation and unlawful practices. The ordinary laws of trade and commerce must be allowed to operate.
I would be grateful if the Deputy would now bring his speech to a close.
If that is the case I believe the factory will be reopened at once. I ask the Minister to take action urgently.
I am glad to have the opportunity to reply to the question put down by Deputy Bill Cotter relating to Ballybay Meats.
I share the Deputy's concern about the continued closure of this factory. This matter has been brought to my attention also by Deputy Jim Leonard, my colleague the Minister for Health, Deputy Rory O'Hanlon and by my colleague here, the Minister for the Marine, Deputy John Wilson. It is a grave situation, as the Deputy has outlined, particularly as this is one of the most modern plants in the business and was opened only a relatively short time ago and is part of the modernisation and rationalisation programme for the pigmeat industry.
As the Deputy is aware, a receiver was appointed to Ballybay Meats Exports Ltd, the owners of this factory, in January of last year. Under the Companies Act, 1963, the receiver has very extensive powers, including the disposal of all the assets of the company as he considers fit. The question of the disposal of these assets is therefore primarily a matter for the receiver and something over which I have no direct responsibility. Nevertheless I was very concerned about the situation at Ballybay and the Department have been keeping in close touch with the receiver on the matter. Regarding pigmeat stocks in the factory, the receiver reached agreement with the supplying farmers on their retention of title claims. I understand that the sale of the stocks realised about £400,000 of which £320,000 went to the farmers.
As regards disposal of the factory itself, the receiver is experiencing great difficulty in finding a buyer, even though interest was initially expressed by a number of prospective purchasers. Despite a number of efforts, which included advertising the factory for sale by tender and possible sale by private treaty, he has been unsuccessful in disposing of the plant. I understand from the receiver that all his efforts to sell the plant are being frustrated, as Deputy Cotter said, by a campaign of intimidation and obstruction against potentially interested parties. The receiver further states that he will not be in a position to sell the plant until this campaign of intimidation ceases and the atmosphere comes back to normal.
I have got to say that I view this appalling situation with the gravest concern as I am sure do all Members of the House, particularly the Deputies representing the area. I am as anxious as everyone else to see this plant reopened and jobs restored. The present situation does nothing to achieve this aim and is counter-productive, and to say the least unhelpful. I would urge all those involved to do all in their power to bring about a climate in which the sale of this plant can go ahead in a satisfactory and reasonable manner. In this regard I look forward to the day when the plant is again operating and thereby contributing to the economic welfare of the area.
On a more positive note I am pleased, to be able to report that the Government rationalisation and modernisation programme for the pigmeat industry is proceeding very satisfactorily. A number of new slaughtering and processing plants, built to the highest EC and USDA standards are already operating. In addition pigmeat exports have been showing steady growth and were worth over £90 million last year. While pigmeat producer prices had been somewhat disappointing before Christmas, I am glad to see that there has been a pick up in prices in the past few weeks. This, I feel is attributable in part at least to the introduction last month of an EC scheme of aid for private storage for which we had been pressing for some time.