I want to thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for giving me the opportunity to discuss this serious matter, and I want to thank the Minister of State for coming here at this late hour. I also thank the Minister of State for convening a meeting last week in an effort to find a solution to this matter. Some of what I will say will not be nice and none of it will refer to the Minister of State.
What is unfolding in Clones is a calamity for the community; I cannot think of a parallel anywhere in the country. Clones is situated on the border and two-thirds of its catchment area is north of the Border. The town has suffered the dreadful consequences of its geographic location through a constant haemorrhage of trade to the northern side. Another town has developed on the other side of the Border in the form of a thriving market, selling goods of every type at prices which, over the past 15 years, have proved to be an embarrassment to the traders on the southern side.
Without the closure of this factory, Clones is already a town in deep recession. If the CPV plant is allowed to close, it will be the death knell for this proud community. Clones can lay claim to a glittering history. It was a thriving three hotel town, a place of importance. The well appointed diamond with its historic Celtic cross and fine tall buildings, sits on top of a small hill and the rest of the town spreads in all directions. The round tower is the centrepiece of an old settlement. In the days before the railway was closed, Clones was a throbbing centre of trade and commerce. It was one of the important towns of Ulster and this is demonstrated by the fact that it hosts the Ulster final every year.
This proud community started to fight adversity in earnest approximately eight years ago. It set a headline for the rest of Europe by carrying out an in-depth survey of the town's needs, holding meetings in every neighbourhood at a time when rural development was not part of our vocabulary. This community meticulously planned a garden festival which would have rejuvenated the whole town. It failed to get the necessary support for this ambitious venture, morale dropped to a new low and all seemed lost. However, like the phoenix, the community rose to the occasion again and a few weeks ago the development association in the town announced that it had received grants of almost £400,000 from the Interreg Fund for a number of projects which are now ready for development. The local credit union is providing a grant of £100,000 towards the programme which locals see as the first step in the rebuilding process. The action of the credit union underlines the intent of the people of Clones.
This is obviously no ordinary community. We can only try to imagine the feelings of utter distress which ran through the community when the 30 days notice of the closure of the CPV plant was announced last Friday week. The Government cannot turn its back on this fine community as it faces possible oblivion. The factory can and must be saved and the Government must make every effort to achieve this. This serious matter was raised in the other House on Tuesday, 1 June and I was very disappointed with the Minister's response, and more disappointed with the subsequent lack of action. When the depressing news broke in Clones on Friday, 28 May, I took immediate action. I made a public statement which was carried in the media the following day.
On Monday, 31 May, I informed the senior Minister's office and gave a full briefing, including the telephone number of the chief executive of the parent company, the decision maker in matters pertaining to CPV. I kept in touch with the Minister's office throughout the day and after lunch I was informed that the IDA's engineering division has been called in. I was happy in the knowledge that Government action had begun. The Minister in the Dáil on Tuesday said that "the IDA are in close constant touch with the company". The Minister's office provided me with a copy of the script on Wednesday morning and throughout Wednesday I continued to make contact with interested parties with a view to keeping the factory open.
At 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday of last week, no contact had been made with the chief executive of Powerscreen International. No contact was made throughout the remainder of last week by either the Minister's office or the IDA, although the Minister of State who is here this evening was in contact. Yesterday at 4.40 p.m. a feeble telephone call was made and I understand that a meeting will take place on 15 June with the IDA; I welcome that.
The Minister gave some peculiar information to the Dáil. The fact is that the IDA was not in close, constant touch with the company, and I can prove it. The Minister of State in the House is an exception but neither the Minister nor the IDA showed any interest in the factory closure from Friday, 28 May until lunchtime yesterday and they stand condemned before the people of Clones, the people who work in the factory and the plant's management. I reject the humbug that was inherent in the Minister's speech that night. The factory's workforce and management and the people of Clones deserve much better.
In his introduction to his speech in the Dáil that evening, the Minister named three Oireachtas Members who, he said, had expressed their concern to him "over the last number of days". My name was cynically omitted from that list even though I had been in touch with his office on six occasions before his speech and had passed on valuable information to him. I was unable to speak to him personally because he was involved in Government business every time I telephoned, and that I understood. His colleague from Monaghan returned from a long visit to Cambodia on Tuesday night and was not in touch with the Minister before he made his speech regarding the factory closure. Yet the Minister said that his colleague had been in touch. He should not give that sort of information to the Dáil. It is entirely cynical and he should apologise for his behaviour.
There are two essential elements required to keep the CPV plant open. First, the plant and its technology must be modernised and updated, second and this is essential to the first, a spirit of cooperation between the management and the workforce, which sadly does not exist at present, must be achieved. Industrial relations at the plant are dreadful, and that is the kernel of the problem. If we are to achieve anything we must attack that problem with diplomacy and try to wheedle both sides into a situation where they can talk to each other. It is a sad story but if we put our minds to it we can achieve a positive outcome.
The Minister of State who is here started a process on Friday last because I heard some very good reports of the meeting she had with union personnel. That is a start and both the union and management need confidence in the future. Both are frightened at this stage by what they see and in what they are involved. The Minister did something to assuage the fears of the union. It is good that people talk and we will not achieve anything until the workers in the plant, the management and the decision makers in Powerscreen International sit down to talk. I have been in constant contact with all interested parties in the last week and a half and all my efforts are pushing in that direction. I want the workers in Clones to be in contact with the board and executives of Powerscreen International in order to try to achieve the basic element of management which is communication, and secondly so that they can sit down together and work out a future. This can be done.
I ask the Government to assist the Minister of State who has promised that she will do everything in her power to help, and who has acted on that promise. Again on behalf of the people of Clones and everybody involved in this, I thank her for her efforts. I have not been in contact with her to date but I hope from tonight that I will maintain contact with her so that we can achieve something and use her undoubted ability and interest in this case to try to save the factory and the town of Clones.
