Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Nov 1996

Vol. 472 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Closure of Cork Company.

Miss Quill

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for having selected this topic for discussion.

The matter to which I refer is the impending closure, announced two weeks ago, of Irish Crown Cork Company Limited, with the loss of 110 jobs. Will the Minister for Health inform me what action has been taken by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment within those two weeks to avert this closure? Has the Minister been in receipt of a report from the IDA on the matter? Has the Minister or any official of his Department visited the plant to assess the position? Did the Minister or any of his officials travel to the United States in an attempt to persuade the parent company to reconsider its decision or did the Minister just wash his hands of the whole matter like a latter day Pontius Pilate?

What would the Minister for Enterprise and Employment have done if this or a similar plant had been located in his constituency? The workforce at Cork Crown comprises mainly women, the majority of whom are the sole breadwinners in their households. What kind of Christmas will these workers and their families have? It is particularly poignant that the doors of that factory are due to close on 20 December, five days before Christmas, when all families endeavour to provide a little extra for their children. Yet those 110 families are being condemned to having a little less. Somehow it smacks of the worst practices of the 19th century.

Unemployment in the Churchfield area of Cork stood at 41 per cent prior to the announcement of this closure. Moreover, unemployment in Cork City has risen by 2 per cent in the past year and has increased constantly in the three years 1994, 1995 and again this year so far. This is in sharp contrast with what we are told is happening in other regions where we hear frequently of new industries being located and many new jobs being created. Not alone is Cork not getting any new jobs, it is losing existing ones, the retention of existing jobs is just as important as creating new jobs. Unemployment on the north side of Cork city stands at approximately 28 per cent while unemployment on the south side stands at 16 per cent.

I call on the Minister to urge his colleague, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, to take immediate action. He must direct the IDA to double its efforts to salvage this industry. If such efforts fail, he must immediately find an alternative industry for the plant on that site. Moreover, he must instruct the IDA to adopt a hands-on approach in obtaining additional new industries for the Jobstart on the north side of Cork city.

I appeal to the Minister for Health to use his influence with the Minister for the Environment to have work started on the Blackpool bypass, an essential precondition to the development of the north side of Cork city. Unless that bypass is constructed the north side of Cork city will continue to be bypassed by domestic and overseas job-creating investors.

Minister for Health, Mr. Noonan

(Limerick East): I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Enterprise and Employment.

Irish Crown Cork Company Ltd, has been in Ireland since the 1930s. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cork Crown and Seal Inc. Philadelphia, USA, one of the largest manufacturers of metal packaging in the United States and the leading can and closure company worldwide. The company manufactures aluminium easy open beverage ends for export which account for over 80 per cent of total output, the balance of output being the manufacture of food cans for the Irish market.

The company has already announced its intention to cease production by 20 December 1996 and has informed the Minister for Enterprise and Employment and the Industrial Development Authority that the closure of the Cork plant, which is loss-making, arises from the loss of substantial export business and changing technology. Other contributing factors are over-capacity in a highly competitive marketplace and competition from the "state of the art" manufacturing facilities in Europe and elsewhere.

I understand the United States parent company examined the scope for investment in existing and new products for the Cork plant but concluded that such investment would not be viable given available markets and over-capacity in existing and smaller beverage ends; food can manufacture for the Irish market alone would not be economic.

Efforts by the Industrial Development Authority to secure a reversal of the decision to close the Cork plant have been unsuccessful. The Minister for Enterprise and Employment contacted the parent United States company but was unable to obtain deferral of the pending closure. Against that background, he received agreement of the company to work closely with the IDA, as that agency endeavours to identify a possible replacement industry and provide every possible assistance in marketing the Cork facility to prospective industrialists. In addition the Minister of State at the Department of Education and the Environment, Deputy Allen, met local management and unions in an effort to avert closure of the plant.

The Minister very much regrets the proposed closure of this long established Cork plant and its job losses in an area of high unemployment. The Industrial Development Authority and other development agencies are fully aware of the challenges, the need to attract new industry and encourage the expansion of existing ones on the north side of Cork city and elsewhere within the Cork region. The IDA is currently finalising negotiations with a number of major overseas companies in the electronics and health care sectors. These projects are expected to create approximately 1,000 new jobs and provide valuable employment opportunities in the Cork area. Negotiations are also under way with some existing companies in the Cork area with a view to future expansions. The Minister is hopeful that these ongoing efforts will prove successful in helping to tackle the high level of unemployment prevailing in the Cork area.