Vol. 500 No. 4
140 Mr. Stanton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to any companies that intend to cease or cut back their activity in Ireland in the next 12 months; the number of jobs involved in these cutbacks; the action, if any, she will take as a result; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4451/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 142 together.
Information about individual firms in difficulty or likely to be in difficulty is generally both sensitive and confidential and is the responsibility of companies themselves.
The State development agencies under the aegis of my Department are working closely with companies in difficulty with a view to ensuring as far as possible that corrective action is taken to improve competitiveness and minimise potential job losses. Task forces, representative of agency and other interests, are also operating to address the problems arising from company closures this year in a number of areas, including Donegal, Dublin, Limerick, Longford and Mullingar. In the case of company closures or significant down-sizing, the agencies work closely with local interests to attract replacement industry, assist in the expansion of existing industry, and provide retraining, where appropriate, for workers affected.
Under the Protection of Employment Act, 1977, 27 companies have notified my Department of proposed redundancies of about 1,500 people in 1999, including, nine company closures with 1,200 proposed redundancies. In addition to notified redundancies, Fruit of the Loom has announced job losses of 770 in 1999 at its Donegal plants.
