Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
31. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to secure alternative employment opportunities for the former workforce at a company (details supplied) which closed in 2020. [34994/20]
View answerOn 20 May, workers at BD Foods in Glaslough, County Monaghan, got the devastating news that their parent company, Henderson Group, had announced the merger of its recently acquired companies into its operational base in Mallusk with the loss of most of the jobs. Will the Tánaiste indicate whether the Department has been active in trying to save the jobs in the first place or, subsequently, secure alternative employment for the workers involved?
Covid–19 is having a severe effect on certain business sectors and the food distribution and supply sectors in particular. In the case of BD Foods, the Deputy will be aware that my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, was very actively engaged with the company in trying to preserve as many jobs as possible. I understand BD Foods will retain part of the company's sales force and as many as possible of the remaining staff will be redeployed to the logistics end of the business.
The company is currently looking at alternative logistics supply arrangements to facilitate this transition. In terms of the jobs that will ultimately be lost, the company has committed to working closely with State services to help those affected to find alternative employment.
The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is well aware of the situation and her Department is assisting the workers to transition and find new employment opportunities, which will be a challenge in the present circumstances. I also am aware that the local enterprise office has been in discussion with some of the employees to discuss alternative options.
The Department of Social Protection shared a prerecorded webinar in June 2020 with company management, which undertook to circulate to it to each employee. Content included information on the programmes and services that the Department provides. The Department will engage with the former employees to develop individual plans that will include details of alternative employment opportunities.
My Department has undertaken a range of initiatives to develop job opportunities in Monaghan.
The new IDA Ireland advance facility in Monaghan is now under construction and we hope to find an occupant for it quite soon. The €5 million BioConnect Innovation Centre is progressing. A new digital hub for Monaghan was funded under the regional development enterprise fund earlier this year and my predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, launched the Border enterprise development fund in June as part of an economic stimulus for the Border counties to help SMEs deal with Brexit.
A lot of what the Tánaiste said is factually correct but will be of little comfort to the workers involved. On 18 August, I wrote to the Tánaiste asking him specific questions that the workers in BD Foods had asked but to which they had not received satisfactory responses from the other Minister, who the Tánaiste has managed to mention three times in his response. One question was in regard to the back to education grant. These workers are currently on the Covid payment and if they go back to education, that payment will be reduced. I asked whether the Minister would address that for companies such as this one. Other workers are investigating the possibility of establishing similar businesses to BD Foods and the information they got from the local enterprise office is that because it is a service-type industry, they can be offered no practical support. Furthermore, the workers have asked whether the Department has any evidence of engagement with the company prior to the announced closure. It happened incredibly quickly in the midst of the Covid pandemic and some of the workers believe this was actually a ruse by the company. I got no response to the email of 18 August or to a further email on 6 October. Perhaps the Tánaiste can answer the questions now.
I do not recall seeing that email or a letter. I usually get sight of any replies that issue to Deputies so I will definitely ask my staff to pull that down and we will send the Deputy a proper reply as soon as we can.
I do not know personally whether there was prior engagement, so I do not want to say to the Deputy now that there was or was not. However, I will check it out and let him know. With regard to the back to education allowance and the back to enterprise allowance, these are really good schemes that allow people to retain their social welfare payment while going back to education or setting up their own business. Obviously, the terms and conditions around that are a matter for the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.
The Tánaiste referenced the number of engagements of his Department and the Department of Social Protection. The workers at BD Foods tell me the engagement they have had with the statutory bodies, including the two Departments, has boiled down to the webinar to which the Tánaiste referred, which was essentially informing workers how they could claim social protection payments. My questions to the Tánaiste relate to the fact that, in the beautiful small village of Glaslough in County Monaghan, this is a huge employer which has deep roots and, proportionately, it is as big as a major industry in a larger town or city. I hope the Tánaiste can provide me tonight with an assurance that his Department will work with the former employees of BD Foods to try to establish alternative employment in the place in which they lost it. I believe it is possible but they need the support and assistance of the Tánaiste. I hope he can assure us tonight that he will give it.
I will definitely follow up on that and if we can provide help and provide alternative employment in Glaslough, that is certainly what we will do, and that is part of the role of Government and its agencies. Generally, the kind of advice and support that we provide people who have lost their jobs are not just about letting them know their welfare entitlements, but that is important too. People are entitled to get redundancy and get their welfare payments, and entitled to know what options they have in terms of education and setting up their own business, but we also try to point people in the right direction in terms of alternative employment, training and all of that. That is not just done through the webinar but through the Intreo service too.
