It would be wrong and misleading to suggest that taxation was the only problem. There were ongoing problems. I will outline to the House the sequence of events leading to the closure. They were previously outlined on 30 April by the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Rabbitte, in response to a Private Notice Question from Deputy O'Rourke and Deputy Harney.
On 23 June 1995, 400 workers were laid off at Packard Electric. This was in accordance with an agreement made between the company and the unions. The agreement provided that:
The company will advise the unions by 15 March 1996
(a) of business prospects for 1996. If prospects are such that a majority of those laid off will be reengaged over the first half of 1996, no redundancies will take effect until 1 June in accordance with previous practice.
(b) If business prospects, however, as of 15 March indicate that a majority will continue on lay-off over the first half of 1996, a phased redundancy programme will be on offer from 15 April for those on lay-off for whom a return to work date has not yet been determined.
(c) In the case of either (a) or (b) above the period of lay-off will be included in reckonable service for redundancy calculation and minimum notice calculation purposes.
On 14 March 1996, Mr. Ferreira wrote to the employees to reiterate: "we are all committed to increasing the competitiveness of the Tallaght plant".
On 2 April the company advised the Department of Enterprise and Employment that, because of difficulties in obtaining final details of its future business, it would not be in a position to inform the workforce of the proposed redundancy programme by 15 April 1996. In response to a request by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, the company met the unions on 12 April and indicated that it expected to be in a position at the end of May to make an announcement about the redundancy programme and its plans for the future of the plant.
On 19 April Mr. Battenberg, President of Delphi and Vice-President of GM, in response to a call from the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, arranged a meeting with the Minister and the Taoiseach to discuss the Packard plant. On 29 April Mr. Battenberg informed the Minister and the Taoiseach that the company had reluctantly concluded the plant did not have a viable future and it was intended to phase out the operation by the end of July next.