Más féidir, ba mhaith liom an t-am atá agam a roinnt leis an Teachta Cuffe.
Tá sé seafóideach go bhfuil an t-aon ionad athchursáil agus déantús buidéal sa Stáit ag dúnadh. Tá sé seafóideach chomh maith, agus muid ag tosnú i gceart ar stráitéis athchúrsáil, stáitéis chun níos lú bruscar a bheith againn agus stráitéis chun caomhnú a dhéanamh ar ár dtimpeallacht, go bhfuil Gloinne Ardagh i Rinn a Séid i mBaile Átha Cliath ag dúnadh in ainneoin go bhfuil brabach á dhéanamh ag an chomhlacht. Molaim don Aire an t-airgead atá an Ríaltas ag fáil ón cáin ar mhálaí plaistic a úsáid chun an monarchan seo a choimeád oscailte nó a rith thar cheann an Stáit.
Tá breis práinn leis a bhfuil á lorg agam toisc go bhfuil an chomhlacht tar éis a luaidh an dáta a bhfuil siad chun tús a chur leis an monarchan a dhúnadh. The management has picked 1 July as the date to begin winding down the plant and to leave over 400 workers without a job. This is without agreeing a redundancy package as proposed by the Labour Relations Commission. The Labour Relations Commission recommendation was five weeks pay for every year worked. What the workers are now being given by the company is the minimum statutory redundancy package.
I ask the Minister to take every step possible to either get the company to overturn its ridiculous plan to close this profitable plant or for the State to take over the running of this vital cog in the waste management strategy. The Government is duty bound to intervene even at this late stage to keep the plant open and to get the company to honour the LRC recommendation. If these steps are not taken and if the State does not take this opportunity, it will affect the implementation of the waste management strategy and will, as such, cost the State much more money in the long term as such a facility will have to be rebuilt or subsidised in the near future.
Mr. Cuffe: I truly believe that this is a taste of the Government's commitment to waste management and to safeguarding jobs. The closure of the Ardagh Glass company will result not only in the loss of 400 jobs but also in the loss of a major recycling facility. Since 1991 we have had a great deal of discussion and hot air about waste reduction, reuse and recycling, but we have yet to see the substance rather than the rhetoric.
We have seen the demise of milk bottle cleansing facilities and the milk bottle is now a collector's item. We have yet to see recycling of telephone directories and any major State agency other than the Department of the Environment and Local Government using recycled paper. We have yet to see proper recycling in the State and we now see the prospect of the closure of Ardagh Glass resulting in major difficulties for the recycling of glass. To add insult to injury, the people of Ringsend are about to get an incinerator at the same time as this plant closes down which is truly a symbol of the Government's lack of commitment to recycling.
We need a guarantee of employment for these workers. We also need a new semi-State agency to handle all aspects of waste reduction, reuse and recycling so that rather than rhetoric there is substance to the many Government documents over the past several years that iterate a commitment to recycling.
In order to safeguard the jobs in Ringsend and to give a brighter future for recycling, the Minister needs to intervene in the case of Ardagh Glass, not only to safeguard those 400 jobs but to make sure that recycling is given more than a paper thin commitment.
