I am grateful for the opportunity to place my concerns on the record. I am saddened it is the third occasion I have had to come to the House for an Adjournment debate in recent months to talk about job losses in my constituency. I hope there will be a more animated response from the Government than I received previously.
Last Thursday, 1 April, Buckeye Ireland, an American company, manufacturing cellulose and operating from Ringaskiddy in County Cork announced it is to cease operations, with the loss of 83 jobs. This followed the announcement a number of weeks ago by the Ridge Tool Company in Mahon that it was to cease operations, with the loss of 66 jobs. This was preceded by an announcement by CG Services that it was to close, with the loss of 110 jobs. At the beginning of the year, the Jetmagic airline closed its operations out of Cork Airport. These closures represent a loss of almost 500 jobs since the beginning of the year. Many of my constituents were affected by the job loss announcements made in the nearby Schering Plough plant, Brinny, County Cork, and the closure announcement of Irish Distillers in North Mall, Cork city.
What disturbs me is the sense of complacency on the part of the Government in regard to all these announcements. Cork South-Central, which on the surface is a prosperous constituency, has in the course of a short few months experienced major job losses. What is even more worrying is that many of these jobs were manufacturing jobs. The decisions that appear to have accompanied the making of these choices do not seem to be the normal competitiveness reasons to which we sometimes hear business leaders and Government representatives refer. The reality is that these jobs will not be relocated in Mexico or China, but in Canada and Germany, where costs equal those in Ireland.
It is time the Government put in place special measures in respect of future employment in the Cork city region, particularly the Cork South-Central constituency, which I have the honour to represent in this House. It is not good enough to stand idly by and not even comment on or put in place measures that would give some crumb of comfort that the economy, even if it is in general good health, will somehow pick up the pieces of the job losses. These recent announcements, when added to the announcements in recent years, with which the Minister will be familiar in his constituency, lead to a sense of uncertainty, confusion and general unhappiness about the state of the local economy in Cork. I hope the response tonight will be better than the response I received on my two previous Adjournment debates this year.
We are beginning to see a serious trend emerging. Trends can be responded to by either trying to put in place measures to stop such a trend or surrendering to them. The Government's response to date has been to surrender to the trend, which is no comfort to those who have lost their jobs in recent months. It is certainly no comfort to those of us who have a responsibility to make sure confidence exists in the local economy. I will look for some solace in what the Minister of State has to say in regard to the recent developments.