Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 Oct 2001

Vol. 541 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Factory Closures.

Mr. Deenihan:

I wish to share time with Deputy Spring. The news that Tralee Beef and Lamb closed yesterday at midday came as a major shock and disappointment to the work force and the farmers supplying the plant. There was no forewarning or notice given. The workers were informed after lunch yesterday that a receiver was moving in and that they had to leave. They left without their P45s and are still without them. More than 800 farmers supply Tralee Beef and Lamb. There was a throughput of about 800 to 1,000 cattle per week. Even last Monday, 130 cattle went through the plant. Farmers had no warning.

Some 300 to 400 farmers are owed considerable sums of money, some since last July. Individual farmers are owed sums from £1,000 to £50,000. One cattle dealer is owed more than £140,000. A figure of £3 million is estimated to be owed to farmers. The receiver has an estimate of about £1.2 million, but the farming organisation is convinced that it will be even more than £3 million. These are not only from Kerry but from West Limerick and Cork as well. Many of them will go out of business if they do not receive payment very soon. Farmers will have to take their cattle to the Bandon or Rathkeale plants with an additional transport cost of £10 per animal.

I appeal to the Minister to ensure that the workers receive their P45s immediately so that they can draw their unemployment benefit and that the Government will step in in the event that there are insufficient financial resources to pay redundancy. There are 80 workers in the plant, many of them butchers and boners and they will find it quite difficult to get alternative employment. They have families to support as well as mortgages and car loans to repay. It has been a very hard blow for them.

The farmers who are owed money should have first claim on the sale of assets otherwise many of them will go out of business. This comes as a major blow to the industrial base of Tralee and I appeal to the Government and the Minister to do everything possible to ensure that the workers and farmers are looked after and also to try to get another operator to come into the plant which is a state of the art facility.

Mr. Spring:

I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Deenihan, for sharing his time. I shall not reiterate the points made by him except to say the loss of 80 jobs at any time in Tralee is a serious blow to the industrial economy of our town. The loss of a beef plant to the constituency and Kerry in general is a very serious blow as Deputy Deenihan has outlined.

Given the confusion that exists and the lack of notice that was given, I probably know as much about the difficulty in this industry as anybody in this House, having lived through the Goodman saga a decade ago. This is a difficult business at any time. However, Tralee Beef and Lamb was a well-established business. The relationship was very good between the management, work force and farming community. We are now faced with quite a serious disaster.

Given the confusion surrounding the reason for the company bringing in the receiver, we would like to see this business being re-established and either sold on or bought as a going concern. This is a modern Europe funded facility and there is a need for a beef and lamb production unit in Kerry. I call on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development or the Minister of State to come to Tralee in the next few days to meet the management, work force and the farming community to see what the prospects are to have this business re-established as a going concern.

There are two major concerns. One is that 80 jobs will be lost and the other relates to the sums of money lost to the farming community. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, which has primary responsibility for the sector, should organise a meeting in Tralee in the next few days to meet the various interest groups. That would be of enormous help to all.

I ask the Minister of State or the senior Minister, Deputy Walsh, to come to Tralee to meet the concerned parties. In this day and age what has happened to Tralee Beef and Lamb is not acceptable. It is a difficult industry but with goodwill all round and support from the banks, this factory could be re-opened as a going concern without further delay.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Éamon Ó Cuív):

Gabhaim buíochas leis an mbeirt Teachta as ucht an cheist seo a ardú. I thank the Deputies for raising this question. It was with regret that I heard first on Raidió na Gaeltachta of the closure of this factory. I share the Deputies' concerns over the loss of employment and the effect on the farming community.

Tralee Beef and Lamb is a privately owned company, which employs some 70 staff in the processing of cattle and sheep for the domestic and export markets. The company went into receivership yesterday. This has resulted in a considerable number of creditors, including its farmer suppliers of cattle being owed significant sums of money. My information is that payment for cattle had not been made for deliveries in the past four to five weeks. This company slaughtered an average 800 cattle per week and occasional deliveries of sheep.

Clearly, the closure and receivership of this company is regrettable, both in terms of the immediate loss of employment and because of the impact on cattle suppliers and other creditors who are left in very uncertain circumstances as regards the moneys owed to them. Farmer suppliers feature strongly among this group. I understand that in some instances farmers are owed figures of the order of £20,000. However, this is a commercial issue, which will have to be resolved between the creditors and the receiver, and I urge farmers to contact the receiver immediately to pursue their claims.

In most other cases in the beef-processing sector, same day payment for cattle deliveries has been the norm for some considerable time. The main competitors of Tralee Beef and Lamb pay for cattle under conditions, which are far more favourable than was the case with this company.

This enterprise, which was a custom built facility received national and EU grant aid totalling more than £200,000 in 1996 when it commenced production. It is a major disappointment that this company has now ceased trading in the circumstances reported today.

I will certainly convey the sentiments expressed by both Deputies to my senior colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.