I welcome the opportunity to raise this important matter and I thank the Minister for dealing with it.
Adjournment Debate. - Monaghan Plant Industrial Dispute.
The Deputy will be aware that this is not my brief but I am pleased to be present to reply to the debate.
I know the Minister is familiar with the Enterprise, Trade and Employment brief.
If the Tánaiste and her Department have not already done so, I ask that they become involved with negotiations in respect of the strike at IJM in Monaghan. More than 130 jobs are at stake at this long established, family-owned timber frame factory, the success of which is due to IDA funding and, more importantly, the foresight of the McCaughey family and the commitment and hard work of the local workforce. Unfortunately, an impasse has arisen a short time after the signing of an important American partnership.
To some people this may seem to be just another strike. However, the owners have made it clear they are prepared to relocate their operation. Given that a similar factory moved operations from the Clontibret area in County Monaghan to Dundalk, we have good reason to be concerned. County Monaghan depends, in the main, on locally based industry. Few foreign IDA-supported industries have been placed in the county. On many occasions, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has remarked on the fact that few foreign industries have located in the Border region. Therefore, these family-owned industries are very important.
IJM and its workforce is just as important to Monaghan as any of the factories in Tallaght, Galway, Clonmel, Cork, etc., which have closed. Successive Governments established task forces in a number of these areas. The people of Monaghan do not want a task force, they want every effort made to ensure that the IJM factory is retained in Monaghan. I urge the Minister to take the necessary steps to facilitate a return to work and a resumption of production before important orders are lost.
I use this opportunity to urge the factory owners and the workforce to avail of mediation services offered from any source. Every dispute must be settled by parties sitting down around a table and making a real effort to iron out their differences rather than continuing their stand-off, which can only do serious damage to all concerned.
I am genuinely concerned that the IJM factory could be transferred to another area. The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, recently attended the official launch of IJM's partnership with an American company. Perhaps he was joking, but the Minister was overheard stating that it would be great to see such a factory established in Dundalk. I do not want to see IJM establishing its operations in Dundalk. I do not mind if another concern wishes to set up a similar factory there, provided the opportunity to do so exists.
IJM was established more than 30 years ago and it has been through a difficult period. However, in recent years, like the Monaghan Century Homes factory, it has made a niche for itself in the international market and become a major benefit to Monaghan.
The issues which caused the strike can be easily solved. I accept that the workforce may not have been provided with the requisite facilities. It is clear there is a need for flexibility in respect of working hours because people in the building trade work longer hours in summer than they do in winter. There is also a need for intervention to ensure that a company which has served County Monaghan well, and which was grant-aided by previous Governments, continues to provide employment there. I ask that the Minister and her colleagues ensure that the necessary action is taken to retain this valuable industry in County Monaghan.
I am taking this matter on behalf of the Tánaiste and the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Tom Kitt. I recognise the sincerity with which Deputy Crawford made his case.
I had lunch today with the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy O'Hanlon, and we discussed this issue. That was before I discovered I would be coming before the House to reply to this debate. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle is also concerned about the way this problem has gathered pace. Reading the background note to the reply, I was amazed at how quickly this matter reached a serious impasse.
I share both Deputies concerns about the events that have transpired at this factory. IJM was established in 1965 as a general joinery company manufacturing timber frame housing and quickly established an expertise in that area. The background note provides interesting information about this issue and indicates that timber frame housing is one of the oldest forms of construction of its kind. As already stated, IJM quickly established an expertise in this area which, both nationally and internationally, is second to none.
IJM provides employment for 130 people and has done so for many years. It is very important to the local economy. Everyone is shocked when a factory employing large numbers of people sheds jobs or closes. However, in a proportionate sense, the loss of employment at a plant of this kind can also wreak havoc. I pay tribute to the McCaughey family for its long record of good work at IJM. However, it is disappointing that the company and its long-standing workforce should have arrived at the present impasse.
I am informed that earlier this week, employees received a letter from the company purporting to terminate their employment and offering re-employment under a new contract. Subsequently, the workforce commenced a picket at the plant.
Partnership 2000 refers to an enterprise culture under a partnership arrangement. The provisions of that agreement seek to encourage management-employee co-operation through a partnership approach to the changes needed. In this dispute management and employees appear to have moved away quickly from dialogue to a confrontational stance. I remind the parties of statutory obligations and rights that may govern their actions, for example, protection of employment and industrial relations legislation. It is preferable to follow the example of an increasing number of Irish companies who have been able to agree with their workforces changes in work practices using the principles of a partnership approach.
It is important good relations between management and the workforce at the factory are restored as a continuance of this dispute will undo relationships built over a long period. The parties should immediately demonstrate a willingness to reach a settlement of the dispute by taking urgent steps to engage in dialogue.
I hope to meet the Tánaiste and the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Kitt, tomorrow and report directly to them. I acknowledge the Deputy feels very strongly about this issue and I will convey the urgency of the matter to them. My colleague, Deputy O'Hanlon, will be doing the same and I also acknowledge Deputy Ó Caoláin's representations.