An early warning system operates through notifications of proposed redundancies or of difficulties in companies. The notifications are made by companies either to my Department or through agencies of my Department. From time to time information becomes available from other sources, such as press or other reports. The system gives advance warning of difficulties in companies and allows the agencies and my Department to co-ordinate an appropriate response and to initiate any necessary action to help firms to address their problems.
The process works effectively because companies can be assured that their problems will be dealt with confidentially. The Deputy can take it there are rarely circumstances where a closure announcement is made without some advance warning of difficulties in the firms in question. Though the agencies or my Department were aware of difficulties in the recent cases, it does not follow that we would be apprised of a corporate decision to close a factory prior to that decision.
The quality of the information available to the early warning system is, very much dependent on the will of companies in difficulties to make information available. I cannot predict the decisions that will be taken by individual companies in the future. In the final analysis corporate decisions with an impact on employment are matters for the companies.
With regard to the company to which the Deputy refers, I am aware of reports that the parent company has been considering the future of each of its plants in Europe. It is looking at the comparative cost-base of each of those plants. The IDA has contacted the company and I recently met the senior management of the Irish company and representatives of a major trade union concerned. The Deputy will appreciate that my discussions and those of the IDA are commercially sensitive and it would not be appropriate to disclose confidential details. The Deputy may be assured that I, my Department and the IDA will continue to keep in contact with the company and every effort will be made to achieve the best possible outcome for the future of employment at the Irish plant.