The following two items are being taken together. Deputy O'Hanlon has five minutes and Deputies Crawford and Ó Caoláin will share the following five minutes. The Minister of State will have up to ten minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - Job Losses.
This is an important issue which is of major concern to the people of Monaghan, namely, the continuing closure of Monaghan Poultry Products. This issue is of particular concern to the 300 workers, the growers, breeders and service industries.
A total of 300 workers found themselves out of work without any notice. It is always traumatic for a workforce to lose their jobs, particularly when they have no forewarning. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Deputy Walsh, is aware of the sensitive nature of the poultry sector given that it deals with perishable goods. The growers found themselves in a state of upheaval because their regular market was cut off without notice. They had to look for markets and take reduced prices for their produce.
The origin of the problem which led to the closure of the plant was detailed by the Department on 29 August and was due to the company's failure to comply with the EU poultry meat regulations of 1996. Slaughtering was suspended on 24 August and the factory has remained closed since. While I would have hoped that it would not have been necessary to close the plant, I recognise and agree with consumers who expect and demand the highest standards in food safety. The Department outlined the reasons for the closure in a detailed statement on 29 August.
There was much activity following the closure of the plant which took place while the House was in recess. I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Walsh, a number of times. I also spoke to the Taoiseach and officials in the Departments of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I also met representatives of Monaghan Poultry Products on a number of occasions.
A special meeting of Monaghan Urban District Council was held on 27 August which I attended with Deputies Crawford and Ó Caoláin. However, the message was the same, namely, the necessary steps were a plan to correct the deficiencies identified by the Department with regard to EU regulations and a viable business plan for the future of the plant.
The first plan prepared by reputable consultants was forwarded to the Department last week and officials will meet representatives of Monaghan Poultry Products later this week. It is for the company to submit a viable business plan to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. When the plan is received I appeal to the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and Enterprise, Trade and Employment to ensure the survival of a production plant in County Monaghan which is the largest producer of poultry in the country. Food is the main economy of the county and it is essential for a viable industry that there is a processing plant in County Monaghan where two thirds of the country's poultry is produced.
It is recognised that the poultry sector is going through a difficult period. We are importing produce from the Netherlands, Britain and the European Union, but there are also significant imports from Brazil and Thailand. I appeal to the Minister to assist the sector to become more competitive and to find more markets. In particular, I ask him to consider the situation of the growers and breeders in County Monaghan as a result of what happened at Monaghan Poultry Products.
I ask the Minister to consider all options for the future of poultry processing in County Monaghan. The first requirement is a proposal from the company regarding a viable business plan. However, the Minister should speak to the Tánaiste, Deputy Harney, as we will do, to ask her to ensure the industry survives and that there is a processing plant. A task force might consider how the reopening of a plant in County
Monaghan can be expedited.
This is an urgent matter and I appeal to the Minister to assist in whatever way possible.
I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing us to raise this important issue and thank the Minister of State for coming into the House. Monaghan County Council made a request over a month ago for a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Walsh, and I reiterate that request as it is even more urgent that he should meet a delegation from the council to discuss this major issue.
A total of 300 workers lost their jobs in Monaghan Poultry Products and up to 150 others have been seriously affected. Poultry breeders were left in limbo and many chicken growers are left without outlets for their finished products. Some farmers are in desperation over prices being paid for their birds while other birds may have to be gassed as they are starving.
I spoke to farmers today who do not know which way to turn. Many of the workers have served the firm for over 30 years, yet they have been left in limbo and with no answer as to whether or when they will receive even statutory redundancy or whether they will get their jobs back. The management is in the process of clearing its desks, if it has not already done so.
I have not spoken to the management since it switched off the state-of-the-art hatchery which contained 800,000 eggs. The sewerage system was also switched off. To many this proved that the management had little commitment to the future.
In 1996, the Government committed £450,000 grant aid to upgrade the plant. Breeders, growers and workers made sacrifices to match this money in order that necessary work could be carried out. I accept that the Department has a right to close the plant when this work had not been carried out. This was an integrated system built up over 30 years. Since it was the Minister who closed the plant for a genuine reason, he must accept some responsibility for the fact that so many people had their futures taken from them by a fax or the stroke of a pen.
The Minister and the Department must take some responsibility for the fact that, five weeks later, some growers cannot find a place to kill their birds, even from a welfare point of view. They must commit themselves to having the plant restructured and reopened immediately as there are people who are committed to doing so if the Minister meets them part of the way.
Whether they have taken jobs, workers must receive proper redundancies and farmers and others who have lost a significant amount of money must be compensated. Successive Governments have done little to create or support jobs in County Monaghan. This is an opportunity to show some commitment. Major question marks hang over this company and the reason at least some work was not carried out in co-operation with the veterinarians and departmental officials. Two thirds of the poultry produced in Ireland is produced in Monaghan. It is unthinkable that the producers would be left without Monaghan Poultry Products Limited, the major plant in the area.
I thank Deputies Crawford and O'Hanlon for sharing their time. We are on the brink of the final act in the closure of Monaghan Poultry Products Limited, one of the mainstays of the economy of County Monaghan, and of the entire Border region. All 300 hundred jobs will go. The closure to date has already deeply affected the livelihoods of the company's poultry suppliers, many of whom have been loyal to and reliant on this outlet. This is a devastating blow. On 23 August last, production at Monaghan Poultry Products Limited was suspended by order of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development which cited alleged non-compliance with EU regulations. I have been in contact with SIPTU representatives, the management and the IFA at different times throughout the crisis. With my fellow County Monaghan based Deputies, I met representatives of the Department. We knew from the beginning that any long-term suspension of production could fatally undermine this operation leading to the loss of 300 jobs. The disastrous consequences for the more than 100 growers, breeder-growers, hauliers and others who supply and service the plant and the knock-on effect in ancillary services are a massive blow to the economy of County Monaghan and the entire region. The company was not on its own, able to make the large investment needed to comply with stringent EU requirements. That is, apparently, a fact. The company's plan presented in an application for aid to Enterprise Ireland was not deemed adequate by that body as advised in a communication received by management today. Does the Department also deem it insufficient?
Closure is now apparently imminent. The Department and Enterprise Ireland have not exhaustively explored every avenue to save this plant. The Ministers for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, and for Enterprise, Trade and Employment must intervene directly and must intervene now. They should work with those committed to the plant's future, with SIPTU and the IFA to put together a rescue package and provide direct financial aid to ensure that the plant complies with all regulations and directives. That is not beyond the genius of the State's machinery. The primary concern must be the health and safety of the entire community of consumers. Producers must adhere to the highest standards and any failure to comply with them cannot be condoned. This is a requirement of all production plants. I trust there is even-handedness in the Department's efforts to ensure the implementation of such standards in all cases. In my native town and its hinterland tonight, many households face an uncertain future. Their worst fears about their employment status are being confirmed. If the worst transpires and Monaghan Poultry Products Limited closes for good, there must be an immediate response from the Government. It must be recognised that the jobs disaster is happening in a region starved of investment. There must be action to provide employment in County Monaghan. We will need more than yet another task force like those established after every such closure elsewhere.
I thank the Deputies for raising this issue and for giving me the opportunity to lay the facts as they are before the House. It is important to note that in solving any problem, the first thing is to establish the facts and what actually occurred. It is obviously of concern when jobs are at risk, but we can only deal with these matters by facing the facts straight on and recognising realities. I place the realities before the House.
Over the course of several years the premises of Monaghan Poultry Products Limited has been in receipt of a series of veterinary notices from this Department which have drawn attention to a range of operational and structural deficiencies requiring attention there. Many of these defects involve a lack of compliance with the standards laid down in the European Communities (Fresh Poultrymeat) Regulations, 1996, and European Community legislation governing the production of poultrymeat. These are the basic legal requirements aimed at ensuring the hygienic processing of food in the poultry sector and thus ultimately the protection of the final consumer. The situation culminated in my Department's issue on 20 August last of a notice under Regulation 12(7) of the regulations, temporarily suspending production at the plant. A meeting between the company and Department officials took place on 21 August at which the deficiencies in question were discussed. The company then drew up an action plan setting out the means by which it proposed to solve the problems, and on this basis the Department agreed to a trial production run on 23 August. Two Department senior veterinarians observed this trial and reported their findings. However, in view of the operational and structural shortcomings still in evidence, my Depart ment decided immediately to reinstate the temporary suspension notice.
The Department provided the company with a detailed statement on the defects in evidence at the plant and officials again met company representatives on 29 August. At that meeting the company accepted the Department's position in regard to the hygiene and food safety defects at the premises. Management opted to seek a complete and permanent solution to their problems rather than a piecemeal patching up approach and undertook to submit to the Department a comprehensive set of plans for the refurbishment of their plant. In this connection Monaghan Poultry Products Limited commissioned consulting engineers who produced a report on the existing production facility and recommendations for the upgrading of the plant. This report endorses the Department's findings with regard to the plant's deficiencies and clearly states that in its present state the facility does not comply with the current regulations. This report is currently being examined by the relevant Department personnel and a meeting with the company has been arranged for this Friday to discuss its contents.
Notwithstanding the efforts which have been made by the company over the years to deal with their situation, it has become increasingly apparent that good food safety standards would not be achieved in the absence of a major investment by the company in structural upgrading. My Department has responsibility for monitoring the safety of meat produced in registered premises and to ensure that the legal food safety standards are fully met and maintained. This is non-negotiable. In light of other debates taking place in the House, everyone must accept that food safety is paramount. Having said that, I am also keenly aware of the very regrettable impact of the closure of the company on the work force and on people running hatcheries and supply farms connected to Monaghan Poultry Products Limited. The consultants' report details the significant costs involved in upgrading the premises and concludes that a major capital expenditure programme will be required to bring the existing facility up to a standard that would comply with the applicable legislation. It will be very much a matter for the company to address the question of funding any restructuring they intend to undertake.
Enterprise Ireland is the authority that is primarily responsible for deciding whether any State investment aid would be appropriate in this case. I understand there has been ongoing contact with Enterprise Ireland and that the full details of the conditions applicable to any such aid have been made known to the company. In the early 1990s some £1.2 million of grant aid was approved by Enterprise Ireland for this company but these moneys were not ever paid as the company did not proceed with the specific projects for which they had planned to draw down this aid.
Following the suspension of processing, suppliers and hatcheries affiliated to Monaghan Poultry Products Limited were seriously inconvenienced. However, I understand that at this stage most of these problems have been resolved by various realignments within the industry. Surplus broilers have to a large extent been dealt with by increased production on the part of other processors both here and in Northern Ireland. The Deputies will appreciate that I am not in a position to direct any processor to take poultry that it does not want, but I understand that major efforts have been made by the sector to accommodate the displaced production resulting from the Monaghan factory closure. I would ask any growers still affected to continue to actively seek outlets for their stock. I am glad to have this opportunity to reassure the House and everybody affected by the closure of this premises that I am fully aware of the difficulties that have been caused and that my Department will co-operate in every possible way with the company's efforts to reopen its plant.
The Dáil adjourned at 10.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 4 October 2001.