Deputy M. Brennan has sought and has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of redundancies in a factory in Ballymote. The Deputy has 20 minutes.
Adjournment Debate. - Ballymote (Sligo) Factory Redundancies.
I do not need 20 minutes. All I want is five or ten minutes to highlight the fact that Shamrock Castors and Wheels Limited in Ballymote, County Sligo, who employ about 60 people, have given notice to 27 people that they will be made redundant. Ballymote is a small town in my constituency and it serves as a service centre for a large section of County Sligo. This part of County Sligo is very rural and is some distance from Sligo town. Many years ago Ballymote had a railway station from which many people left the area to emigrate to different parts of the world. Some of them never came back to that part of Sligo. Recently the people of Ballymote and its hinterland had the benefit of two small industries established on the outskirts of the town. Unfortunately, because of the crippling effects of the recession one of those industries has already gone to the wall leaving its work force as a few in the dole queue which to many seems endless.
Worse was to come. Only this week workers in Shamrock Castors and Wheels Limited heard the chilling news that 27 of them were asked to be made redundant. This is the last and only industry in Ballymote with the exception of perhaps two or three who employ a handful of people. Where so many people are working happily in a small industry such as this it is terrible that 27 people are being made redundant and one wonders where they will go. I cannot see that most of them will ever get jobs in that area again unless the Government can do something to help them. Employment opportunities in all of my constituency have been either eliminated or threatened at an alarming rate.
In August 1982 — I raised this previously in the House and the Minister, Deputy Bruton, was present and he knows all about this — 400 workers in the Snia synthethics factory in Snia were asked to take an extended holiday of six weeks. They waited day after day, week after week, month after month until finally in November this year a decision was made that the factory was to be closed. That industry employed over 400 people from different parts of Sligo and Leitrim and was a catchment area for that area. Unfortunately, most of these people have not got jobs yet.
This time last year in my town of Tubbercurry, Basta Limited laid off 120 workers. That factory was owned by a former Member of this House, Deputy James Gallagher, a man who brought much industry into the west of Ireland and did more for industry there than any other TD could do or ever will do, I am sure, because he worked so hard for industry in the west. He died a few months ago. If he were alive today I wonder if the factory in Ballymote that was set up by him and later sold to a German parent company, Shamrock Castors and Wheels, would be in the position it is in today.
I wrote to the IDA because of the unemployment situation in County Sligo and in particular in my constituency and I received a reply from them which said:
I refer to your letter of 25 October seeking information on job opportunities at Tubbercurry, Ballymote and Collooney. We are conscious of the 120 redundancies at Basta Limited, Tubbercurry, and are giving priority to obtaining a project for the 24,000 square foot advance factory there at present. Approximately 10 promoters have visited Tubbercurry in the past 12 months and there has been a favourable response.
Over ten promoters have gone to Tubbercurry and have looked at the 20,000 square foot factory but unfortunately have not come up with the right type of employment for it. With Ballymote, Tubbercurry and Snia, Sligo has suffered greatly since this time last year. As the Minister has told us, we have some new industries and when we met Mr. White of the IDA we were led to hope that some new industries would come on line in the new industrial estate in Sligo town, but Sligo town is a centre of population for the north-west and many people live there. In rural areas such as I come from not many jobs are available. What are the people of south Sligo to do? We have a 24,000 square foot factory in Collooney and a German company were to come and set up there but unfortunately they did not do so. The Minister here present is aware of that also.
Sligo has been very badly hit. The Sligo Champion of Friday, 18 November, stated that Sligo's jobless figure had risen by 69 per cent in ten years and the work force has increased by over 6 per cent.
I understand that one reason Shamrock Castors and Wheels are being closed is that they are unable to pay the crippling ESB bill, which I believe is £10,000 per month. That is crippling when you have fewer than 60 people employed. I ask the Minister if anything at all can be done for this part of County Sligo which I am sure has suffered more in the past 12 months than any other part of Ireland. I am delighted that Deputy McCartin is here in the House because he should know the position as well as I know since he represents the constituency of Sligo-Leitrim.
I live on the doorstep of Tubbercurry and Ballymote. I wonder can the Minister do anything to help. I believe production is stopping in one section of the factory because they are unable to pay their ESB bill. If this happens castors for hospital beds and trollies and for heavy industrial use will have to be imported. This is the only factory which makes these heavy duty castors but from now on they will be making castors for furniture only.
When the Minister takes all these facts into account I am sure he will do everything possible to help them with this crippling electricity bill over £10,000 a month. No small industry could afford such an electricity bill. I do not want to delay the House any longer but I want to know if the Minister can do anything to stop 27 people going on the dole queue before Christmas. Last year 120 people in Tubbercurry and over 400 in Snia joined the dole queue and many of them came from south Sligo.
I would like to assure Deputy Brennan and Deputy McCartin that I appreciate the importance of the Shamrock Castors and Wheels industry in the Ballymote area. I am familiar with this industry and with the chairman who recently took over.
The decision was taken on a commercial basis because of accumulated and continuing losses in the operation. The new parent company, Tenta Rollen, are seeking to reorganise the company to become viable and to identify new products to replace those which are not selling very well at present. This plant is associated with a zinc-plating plant in Sligo which provides some of the raw materials used. As Deputy Brennan said, one of the problems they are facing is the high cost of electricity. I am very concerned about the high cost of electricity in Ireland especially for industry. The cost of domestic electricity is not very high when compared with European standards but the cost of electricity to industrial users in Ireland is either the highest or the second highest in Europe and this is causing problems.
I have established a commission of inquiry into the electricity industry and asked them to produce a report within six months of the date of their being set up. They have provided me with an interim report in recent days and I hope some action can be taken on foot of these reports to reduce some of the costs of electricity generation. However, investment in electricity is long-term because one must build up generating capacity over a long period and it is not easy to revert a decision once it is taken. It will be difficult to bring about instantaneous improvements in electricity prices, in fact it will be impossible. One of the areas that might be looked at is the way industrial electricity is priced as against domestic electricity and whether the balance is right in view of the number of people in employment who depend on industry. Of course there is a cost involved in any change for the domestic consumer. This is not something the ESB would do lightly or that I would recommend lightly, but it is something that should be looked at.
As Deputies are aware, Shamrock Castors and Wheels were taken over last year by Tenta Rollen, a German company, previously owned by Hufa Rollen, another German company. The company have received substantial assistance from the IDA. Is it necessary for me to give a list of all the different forms of assistance this firm have been given? They have made applications for further assistance which are being examined at present.
The Deputy referred to the overall question of the promotion of the south Sligo area and industry in that part of Ireland. As he is aware, the IDA have a fair amount of infrastructure in place for industrial development. There are eight acres of industrial land in the possession of the IDA in Ballymote. They also have an advanced factory of 10,500 square feet which is being actively promoted. There are 120 acres of IDA land in Sligo county, six advance factories and two small industry units.
Deputies will see that the IDA have put in place all the things that are necessary for industrial expansion, but the problem is to get promotors who are prepared to put some of their money at risk alongside the very substantial IDA money. The Government cannot create jobs on their own; there has to be a partner who is prepared to put money at risk. That is the way the system works. The level of taxation would be even higher if the Government were to bear 100 per cent of the risk involved. It is fair to say that there is a good infrastructure in south Sligo ready for promoters but, as I said, the problem is to get people to take the risk in present market circumstances.
Ninety eight per cent of the products of Shamrock Castors and Wheels is exported to the German parent company and distributed by them in Germany. Apart from the electricity costs, what has caused the problem is the industrial depression in Germany and in the Community generally. That is something neither this Government nor any other government can do a lot about. There is some sign of an up-turn in the European economy, particularly in the German economy. I hope that this will lead to a healthier position for the German parent company and hence give greater assurance of the jobs in Sligo.
I assure the Deputy and the House that the official agencies concerned will do everything possible to assist this company to devise a recovery package which will maintain the now reduced work force and enable it to increase as soon as the market improves.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.20 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 29 November 1983.