I raise this matter to express the utter frustration of the people of lnishowen at the unemployment problem we are facing in the peninsula. All Departments, funding agencies, Ministers and individuals eloquently use the trendy phrase "socially excluded". We feel excluded and far from trendy when we hear of the great drop in unemployment figures nationally. We feel excluded when we hear of the 1,300 new jobs being created in Dublin and Dundalk and of the call centres for Cork or Waterford – not that we have anything against Dublin, Dundalk or Waterford. We feel excluded when we hear of the IDA annual report of 1998 citing "another year of record job creation and economic impact" and then read the small print to see that in actual fact there was a 2.5 per cent decrease in IDA supported companies in 1997-98 and a decrease of 129 in the number of jobs created in 1998 compared to 1994. We feel excluded when we see companies that are operating successfully, with a highly motivated and dedicated workforce, closing down or relo cating out of our area. We do not deserve social exclusion.
Last week those employed in the Glenveagh mushroom operation in Newtowncunningham were added to the long and growing list of those laid off from Fruit of the Loom, Donegal Shirt Company, Fingal factory, Moville, Jockey underwear etc., not to mention the existing high level of unemployed in the peninsula. Glenveagh Mushrooms employed 17 people full time. It was of benefit to mushroom pickers and growers throughout my area. This, therefore, is not the loss of 17 jobs but yet another catastrophe for a region that does not understand what is taking place around them.
In this instance, mushrooms picked in lnishowen could be at the packing station within minutes or hours and, by using the port at Larne, could be in the UK shops by the next day. The guarantee of fresh quality produce is surely what any operator would require and this was possible from the location in Newtowncunningham. Now the produce will require significantly more time for transportation as the factory closes its gates in Donegal, which has implications for the entire industry in the county.
If we were peripheral, if we were not adjacent to the fourth largest city in Ireland, if we were not able to provide a proper service or access international ports and airports and if we did not have a ready work-orientated employment pool, we would sit back and accept that this desertion was warranted. This, however, is not the case, we have all those factors in our favour. What angers me most is that two of the groups who have approached me about creating 25 and 40 jobs – small numbers in the scheme of what is happening nationally – when they could be receiving real assistance, seem to be continually encountering hurdles.
While the task force, under the chairmanship of Michael McLoone, is striving to deal with the problem, the reality is that we have empty factories standing idle. Workers are eager to remain off the dole queues and we need immediate positive action to deliver us from the social exclusion which is unfairly imposed on us. The task force needs to report, its recommendations need to be comprehensively reacted to and the anomalies must be resolved.
One such problem relates to the back to education allowance. The task force has been keen to encourage people to get extra qualifications to make them more adaptable to possible business opportunities. Many have taken up this challenge but when they get their places on a course and seek an allowance to help them financially they are told that they have not been on the dole for six months and therefore do not qualify for assistance. These individuals do not have the finances to cope with the absence of the wage to which they are used, never mind the extra cost of participating in education.
They were not at fault when the redundancies that were to take place six months ago and which would have left them in a qualifying position were put off for a number of months. Yet they are left to cope with our seemingly endless bureaucracy.
I could go on but I know my time is limited. I ask the Minister, the Tánaiste and other relevant Ministers why they are implementing different initiatives. I implore them for their help in ensuring that we reverse a terrible downward spiral.
