Vol. 514 No. 1
68 Mr. Deasy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to the fact that unemployment levels in Waterford are at 14% or almost three times the national average and will be further increased by the announcement of the considerable reduction in staff in the Ray Ban division of Luxottica; and the proposals, if any, she has to address this problem. [3529/00]
Unemployment is measured by the quarterly national household survey undertaken by the Central Statistics Office. The latest figures for the third quarter June – August, of 1999 show that the unemployment rate for the south east region, which includes Waterford, was 7.9%, while the figure for the State was 5.7%. The CSO does not publish figures on a county basis.
Industrial development in particular areas of the country is a day to day matter for the industrial development agencies and not one in which I have a direct function. However, the Government, through its enterprise support agencies, is committed to ensuring the most equitable distribution of job opportunities.
Over the last year, IDA Ireland has expended considerable effort on reviewing its role and on planning its future strategy to ensure that it continues to meet national needs in the years 2000 and following. In this regard, I have ensured that the need for more balanced regional development has been brought to the core of the agency's agenda and it has now become the main focus of its activity.
Luxottica, which is involved in the manufacture of Ray Ban sunglasses in Waterford, recently announced that is it to restructure its Irish production plant. This restructuring will involve the transfer of frame production from Waterford to Italy and reduce the Irish workforce by 165 to 95 employees. The company hope that this reduction in numbers will be achieved mainly through voluntary redundancies.
The key objective now is to ensure that alternative employment is found for those workers who are to lose their jobs at Luxottica. Prospects for attracting new industry into the Waterford region are excellent and in this regard, NTL, the company which bought Cablelink last year, announced on 7 February that it is to set up a customer management centre in Waterford city. The project will employ 250 customer-service, tele-sales and technical support staff and recruitment is to start immediately.
