I thank you for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, for being here to represent the Tánaiste. When the Tánaiste visited Athy on 27 April last the local community and those who attended the launch of the Athy Developement Forum's promotional brochure for the town were enormously impressed by her detailed knowledge of the potential of the area and of the challenges faced by Athy with regard to job creation. Having heard her speak, those who attended the meeting with the Tánaiste were enthused by her understanding of the local situation and optimistic about the prospect of decentralisation and new jobs for the town.
It is a great disappointment therefore that in the almost immediate aftermath of her visit and at a time when expectations were higher than ever before the management of Peerless Rugs (Europe) Limited should have announced the laying off of its entire workforce of 65. The workforce had dwindled in recent years from a high of 200 to 120 about three years ago. It will now cease to exist as an operating concern.
A special meeting of Athy UDC held last evening heard details from the town clerk of £67.45 million worth of investment projects under way in the town, a record investment figure. Despite all this, unemployment levels remain unacceptably high – double the levels that prevail in other parts of County Kildare. This is occurring at a time when record levels of jobs are being created nationwide. In this context, the loss of 65 jobs in Athy might not make many headlines but in relative terms its impact on the town and south Kildare generally is enormous. It is equivalent to the loss of 1,000 jobs in any one of the major centres of population across the country.
The local authorities and the community have responded to the challenge of promoting job creation in the area by establishing the Athy investment and development forum in which IDA Ireland and FÁS are represented. I am specifically requesting the Tánaiste, through the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, to assist us with our difficulties in Athy by establishing a special task force to actively pursue job creation in the area. This could be done by simply upgrading and restructuring the existing forum to the status of a task force. As the Minister of State is aware, such an approach has proved to be successful in other parts of the country.
The workforce at Peerless Rugs in Athy has demonstrated great commitment to their employers over 20 years. Earlier this week I met a group of the company's workers and noted that the employee with the shortest service had worked there for 15 years. One individual could record 27 years service, 26 years on the part of his wife and 21 years by his daughter. One can only imagine the scale of devastation caused to such a family by the redundancies.
The loyalty of the workforce should be recognised through the offer of an acceptable redundancy package. The employer should be encouraged, together with the State agencies, to be generous in honouring its obligations to the workers, some of whom are pessimistic about ever working again. The first question occupying the minds of the soon-to-be redundant workers is the nature of the redundancy package likely to be on offer. The second question focuses on what exactly the company is doing. Is it, as has been suggested in its press release, closing down operations due to an inability to compete with low-cost manufacturers in the Far East, or is it simply relocating its operations to a sister company elsewhere in the State?
I understand FÁS has already visited the plant and offered its services to the employees. It will need to maintain contact with the individuals con cerned. It will be necessary to liaise with the VEC to ensure the question of upskilling and second-chance education opportunities are addressed.
Athy's population is mushrooming in accordance with County Kildare's development strategy of encouraging population growth towards the south of the county. More than 400 homes are under construction and there are planning applications under consideration for 520 more units. As the county's population grows, the demand to provide employment locally will also increase. This issue needs to be tackled urgently and it is the considered opinion of the local authorities, that is, the local urban district council and county council, and local agencies that the best way to do this is by establishing the task force I have recommended.
