I welcome the opportunity of raising this question in the House, the appropriate place to do so, and I thank the Ceann Comhairle for having allowed me.
To the extent that we can undo the damage done to the Nenagh area, the prospects for employment in that and in the north Tipperary region in general, that is my sole purpose in raising this issue here. Most of what I have to say will relate to the actions to be taken to recompense Nenagh and north Tipperary for the unfortunate circumstances which gave rise to the cancellation of the Elfab Electronics Components Industry which, by decision, was to have been located in Nenagh.
I want to give the background to the situation in that area. For some time with the prospective closure of Mogul Mines, which has since closed, it was the preoccupation of all of us from Nenagh — the town in which I was born and reared and one that has been very kind to me in my 19 years in public life — that the closure of Mogul Mines would give rise to major redundancies and that a number of skilled and semi-skilled people would come on the market. We are talking of the order of 500 people. For that reason it was always promoted as an area of priority for industrial development in order to accommodate those who would become redundant in that event and who have since become redundant. I might say that during my term as chairman of the urban council, in conjunction with the development authority for north Tipperary, the county development team, we made proposals. I am glad to say that the two major estates, the one in question here, Lisboney Estate, and the Gortland Roe Industrial Estate, which is located right behind my own house, were planned and developed by us at that time. As chairman of the urban council I took the view that if we were to attract industry to Nenagh always we should match our words with actions and that an industrial estate should perhaps be located in one of the most attractive areas. Both of these estates were regarded as attractive. Despite whatever criticism I have to make of statutory bodies the industrial estates, particularly that at Gortland Roe has, if anything, enhanced the residential character of the area. Without sounding holier than thou I might commend that approach to all public representatives. The fact is that industrial estates properly planned, with proper amenity facilities, can add to the attractiveness of an area.
I might make one other preliminary point. Over the last few days since I first became aware of this situation — I suppose it is understandable that, as a member of the Opposition I did not become aware of it as soon as the Minister or other Government Deputies, but last Thursday I did become aware of it — I issued what I hoped was a responsible statement to various newspapers. In the event the statement I issued did not appear in any newspaper, though a statement of my townsman here appeared at great length in one of the newspapers to whom I have given a considerable statement.
