On this, the first public opportunity I have had, I should like to congratulate the Minister on his appointment to the Department of Energy. I wish him success in the difficult task that he faces in charge of that Department. I wish him success at the Cabinet table and I should like to extend my good wishes to his wife and family.
I recognise that there are merits in the Bill. At the outset I should like to pay tribute to Bord na Móna for their excellent work over the years. The company have had an excellent and dedicated workforce since their foundation in 1946. I would be failing in my duty if I did not bring to the notice of the House my serious reservations about some aspects of the Bill. It is of vital importance that the Minister maintains the basic structure of Bord na Móna. Any break-up or diminution of Bord na Móna into a number of smaller concerns would be unwise and wrong. It appears that it is the intention to establish a number of different companies but that will amount to establishing a hierarchical structure with directors and chief executive officers appointed and new buildings provided. I see that as a real danger if we adopt the Bill as presented. It is important that we ensure that that does not happen but the capacity for it to occur is contained in the Bill.
I do not think it is fully appreciated what Bord na Móna have done for the country. A mention of the name of the company in Dublin evokes widespread criticism; people knock Bord na Móna and their employees at every opportunity but forget that the company had to face stiff competition down the years. They have had to comply with Government policies which were subject to the same frequency of variation as the weather. In fairness to the company, it must be stated that not alone were they asked to fight with one hand behind their backs, but on occasions were expected to fight with their two hands behind their backs and almost blindfolded. They have had to compete against falling gas and oil prices and cope with bad weather at harvest time.
When the original Bill was going through the House Bord na Móna were asked to undertake a major capital development programme. They borrowed a vast amount of money. In 1980 Bord na Móna had a staff of 7,100. Now Bord na Móna's indebtedness is about £160 million and they are paying approximately £20 million each year in interest to the banks and financial institutions from which they borrowed. In spite of the difficulties confronting Bord na Móna, they have managed to increase their sales of baled briquettes in Dublin and right across the country, and their stockpiles are being reduced.
Some time ago the passing of the ESB legislation allowed the ESB to import coal, enabling them to compete with Bord na Móna through Moneypoint. In spite of the smog we have suffered over a number of years, particularly in Dublin, we have allowed vast quantities of coal to be imported while we had our own indigenous resource which, in my view and in the view of medical experts and others, causes little or no harm to health in terms of the fumes resulting from burning it.
The Government have not gone far enough to prevent the burning of coal in different areas in this city. The efforts by the Government to encourage the burning of turf and smokeless coal have not been sufficient. There should have been incentives provided to encourage people to move from burning coal to burning our own native fuels. This would have benefited the health of the people and the economy.
Bord na Móna have succeeded in breaking into the British market. Briquettes are now selling in shops, supermarkets and chain stores across Britain. Moss peat, which was losing money, is now a major profit-maker for the board; last year they achieved a profit of over £3 million on the sale of moss peat. In a joint venture with Wavin they developed a method for tackling pollution problems. This is to be welcomed. They should be assisted in every way to research and develop these products to combat the major problem of effluent pollution. Major initiatives are needed and I am glad to see that Bord na Móna have taken the initiative here.
In Bord na Móna there is considerable expertise and initiative among the management and staff. I will continue to support and assist such progress and development in every way possible. In 1946 when the Turf Development Act was passed in this House the late Deputy Todd Andrews was involved and the core objective of Bord na Móna was to be the extraction of turf peat from the bogs of Ireland for domestic consumption. Since then the sale of turf and briquettes has been of enormous benefit to the people of Ireland, but it was of particular importance to our balance of payments by reducing the importation of other fuels.
Times have changed since then and Bord na Móna workers are willing to adapt and do whatever is required of them as long as it is reasonable and sensible. In the past 12 months over 1,200 Bord na Móna workers have taken voluntary redundancy or early retirement. I do not think the people of Dublin or anywhere else appreciate the significance of that figure — that number of live people have had their employment terminated. Of that 1,200 people, I would say 1,100 come from the midlands. It is devastating to see so many people lose their jobs in a period of 12 months. If that happened here in Dublin there would be an outcry. The national papers would send in teams of reporters to investigate the causes and come up with remedies; there would be "Today Tonight" specials and a major Government initiative to try to counteract such a huge job loss. This is happening in the midlands and I am sad that the people in Dublin have not the same concern about what is happening in rural Ireland as they have for what is happening in our bigger cities.
The workers who are still with Bord na Móna say they are fully in agreement with flexible work practices and methods so that all unnecessary demarcation would be abolished. It is important for the Department and the management in Bord na Móna to be aware that the staff are willing to co-operate in every respect to ensure the future viability of Bord na Móna. The unions have made this abundantly clear and I hope it is acted upon.
I mentioned at the outset that I had some real reservations about what is happening. There is to be a change in the method of harvesting. There are two systems involved — the PECO and HAKU systems. We are changing from the PECO system to the HAKU system. In simple words, the HAKU system means all the peat will be brought into one huge pile, having been lifted by harvesters, and brought into a huge centre which will have solid foundations. It will be stock piled near a road or a railway line. Enterprise units will be set up and will be managed and supervised by Bord na Móna. Apparently this work will be carried out on a trial basis at first. If it is not a success and if everybody is not happy with it, after 12 months it will be forgotten about and Bord na Móna will revert back to the old system. That is the procedure that has been outlined.
I do not doubt that there is an amount of sincerity in what people have said in this regard from time to time. I have some of those statements and I am sure when they were made these people intended to fulfil their promises but, alas, the deed often differs from the word. If the Minister, the Department of Energy and Bord na Móna want to bring in this HAKU system under the terms as outlined, I would be happy with it but I would like to see it written in legislation. The word "realism" that has bedevilled rural Ireland in the last two and a half years is regarded as progress but I have a lot of reservations about that. I would like to see this system written into legislation. It should be operated for 12 months on an experimental basis and if it is not satisfactory to the people in the midlands or if the workers find it is not suitable then we should revert to the original system.
The reason for my reservations is that during the last general election campaign the then Opposition made promises as to what they would do if elected to Government but they did not keep those promises. Speeches were made from platforms — I do not know whether the Minister made such a speech in North Tipperary — to the effect that forestry would be developed and Bord na Móna would have the responsibility of doing so. That undertaking was given at the time. People in Offaly, Laois, Longford, Westmeath and right across the midlands listened to these promises. Perhaps that promise was not made in North Tipperary but others were made there.
I want to quote from the Taoiseach's presidential address at the 1985 Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis, in which he stated:
We believe the stage has now been reached where the full scale development of the commercial possibilities of this national asset and the achievement of the full potential of our timber industry should be entrusted to a commercially oriented organisation geared to the type of product development and marketing now required. We are therefore seriously examining giving Bord na Móna overall responsibility also for putting forestry development on a viable long term commercial basis and attracting adequate investment as the best guarantee of maximum employment and a worthwhile return to the nation.
He also said:
Great credit is due over the years to the Department of Forestry for the planting and development of our forests so that we now have, as a nation, a very considerable asset available to us.
The Taoiseach, in that statement, said that Bord na Móna would have responsibility for developing our timber industry and that they would be geared to product development and marketing.
Deputy Albert Reynolds, now Minister for Finance, who was then Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Energy, made a statement in Tullamore which was reported in the Midland Tribune of 19 October 1985 as follows:
Mr. Reynolds said that he favoured the introduction of voluntary early retirement and, if necessary, the implementation of short time working. In the long term, he said, he favoured a development of the role of Bord na Móna to include responsibility for forestry. There were other quotations on the matter. At that time people believed that Bord na Móna would have responsibility for forestry. They felt that Bord na Móna had the expertise and the personnel to develop the timber industry. With cutaway bogs becoming available it was a natural follow-on that Bord na Móna would develop our forests but that did not happen. Instead of giving the responsibility to an existing body which would be commonsense and would avoid the expense of setting up another semi-State body — and we have a lot of semi-State bodies — the Government set up An Bord Coillte.
It is important that what is promised be written into legislation. It is because of those broken promises that the workers in Bord na Móna have such serious reservations about what is now proposed. I can understand the concern of workers about this system. At present the vast majority of workers in Bord na Móna are married and have families. They live ordinary lives and work hard for their wages. They are paid for a normal working week in which they are obliged to work particular hours. When the weather is inclement they are sent to do other work in machine workshops such as fixing machines and so on. If the new system is introduced the burden of seasonality will be borne by the worker. When profits are made in a good year those profits will go to the company but when there is a bad year, the back that is weakest, that of the worker, will carry the load. The worker will have to carry the can for whatever losses are incurred. What I envisage is that many workers will be employed on a temporary or part-time basis. If the weather is fine they can work 14 hours a day but if it rains and they cannot work they will not be paid one red penny. What will happen to the wives and families of these people who will be neither working nor drawing unemployment assistance or benefit?
I can give a similar example. The Department of Social Welfare are triumphant that so many forestry workers are now being prosecuted for working and drawing the dole. I know many forestry workers who are working under impossible and difficult conditions in a highly dangerous job. In order to exist many of them have worked and drawn the dole at the same time. I am not condoning that but I can understand a married man with a family and who is not able to obtain a living wage occasionally signing on as well. That is what is happening in the forestry industry at present and it is likely to happen here if this system continues.
A Cheann Comhairle, you are one who has always taken an active interest in the Irish language. I am sure you will remember the old storey about the Spailpín Fánach. It is a long time since I read it in the national school. It was about a man who was paid for his day but who was hired and sacked at will. I do not think that kind of thing is good enough or that it is right. That is the concern that has been expressed to me by the workers and the people I meet day after day. They are concerned that that is the kind of future they and their families are facing.
It is no harm to draw to the attention of the House what will happen under the new HAKU system. A married man, who is not signing on, will go out to work in bad weather conditions to try to fulfil his contract to Bord na Móna but if the weather is so bad that he is prevented from doing that, he subsequently will be forced to bring his wife out to help him save the peat and in many instances some of his children may be kept from school to help. I thought those days had passed in Ireland but there is a real danger, if this Bill goes through as it is, that there will be a return to such times in the nineties, on the advent of the single European market. If that is progress it is highly questionable.
I am from County Offaly, Deputy Flanagan is from County Laois and Deputy Naughten is from Roscommon. When I was growing up there was extreme poverty right across Offaly. Emigration was rife. The level of poverty people experienced at that time is not fully appreciated. Bord na Móna and the ESB developed and progress came slowly. Throughout Offaly, Laois and the midlands generally there has been wonderful progress. Because of the impetus and the initiative given by Bord na Móna whole communities progressed and our achievements in sport of every type have been obvious at national level. Many people were involved in small farming and all this helped to develop our area. I am speaking for the survival of County Offaly and part of County Laois. I do so because I have seen towns like Ferbane, Cloghan, Kilcormack and Daingean and villages like Clonbullogue, Bracknagh and Walsh Isalnd where the ravages of emigration were worse than John Healy ever dreamt of when he was writing about Charlestown in County Mayo. The flight of people from our area now has to be seen to be believed. This will make even worse an already bad situation. I could go along with this Bill if some safeguards were written in to ensure that this does not happen.
In this week's edition of the Midland Tribune, dated 25 February 1989, there is an article under the heading, “Group Targets Economic Survival”. This is a reference to a new group that have been established. The chairman, Mr. Ken McDowell of Birr, is reported as saying that the new enterprise plan would dramatically affect the business people in towns and villages in the area and he has calculated that the cumulative cost to business in terms of unemployment and loss of revenue from Bord na Móna purchases could be £12 million per annum. Mr. McDowell went on to say that in 1987 the three works concerned, Boora, Blackwater and Derrinlough, employed 980 permanent workers with an additional 500 during the production season but that under the new proposals this number would be drastically reduced, to less than 100 permanent staff by 1992.
I can understand the concern of those people and that is why it is important that the Minister for Energy recognises and appreciates just how relevant it is. I want to have written in here exactly what is envisaged, because a contract system can present great dangers as I have outlined to the House this evening. I want categoric assurances that the proposed HAKU system will be only 10 per cent this year, that it will be done as an experiment for this year only, that it will then be reviewed and that the remaining 90 per cent will be produced this year as heretofore. This is both essential and important.
In 1980 there were 7,100 workers employed by Bord na Móna. That number has now been reduced to a 2,800 permanent workforce. I am not certain as to the number of seasonal workers that will be taken on this year, perhaps it will be 1,000, thereby bringing the number employed in the season to 3,000.
I should like to refer to a few other items. I wrote to the Minister for Energy, Deputy Smith, on 4 January stating that the first major problem is the capital structure of Bord na Móna. I believe it is a matter of extreme urgency that this is seriously looked at and that Bord na Móna be given some remission on their capital debt, which is crippling the company. Bord na Móna have a capital debt in the region of £160 million. The banks, when dealing with farmers, shopkeepers and industries, realised it was better to talk to people in difficulties and to restructure their loans, and if necessary to grant them a remission or write off. This ensured that agriculture and industry were kept viable. It was a commonsense practical approach.
Bord na Móna pay £20 million per annum in PAYE, PRSI and income tax to the Government in addition to a further £20 million interest, a total of £40 million a year going back to the State one way or another. They have not got one red halfpenny remission. For Bord na Móna to remain viable and retain the jobs that currently exist, the Government sooner rather than later will have to look at their capital structure and decide on an injection of equity or granting them a remission. If not, the existing debt could topple the whole of Bord na Móna and that is too serious to contemplate. I would ask the present Government to give this serious consideration, and see whether they can grant some type of aid or remission to Bord na Móna.
I have paid tribute to the work that Bord na Móna have done. I believe that the present management are men of vision, energy and initiative, but they need help. Pious platitudes, economic jargon and theories will be of no benefit unless they get some type of financial assistance to help them overcome the serious problems they are facing. Bord na Móna have in fact reduced their workforce by 1,200. They have closed a machinery factory and a number of sod turf bogs. However, in spite of that, they need assistance to get them over the difficulties they are facing at present.
I now wish to deal with the issue of cutaway bogs. There is quite a sizeable amount of cutaway bogs right across the country and Bord na Móna have approximately 200,000 acres of bog overall. I received a very detailed letter from a number of farmers in my area. The farmers attached to the Boora farmers committee mentioned that Bord na Móna had acquired their lands compulsorily in the forties and fifties at ten shillings an acre. Whether the farmers wanted to sell or not, the land was taken from them at as little as ten shillings an acre but the price increased later. I know of one farmer in my time who had 900 acres acquired compulsorily from him at £1 an acre. Some of those farmers should be given the opportunity of leasing the land at the same rate that Bord na Móna leased it to the forestry division of the Department of Energy. I believe that land is being leased to the forestry division at approximately £16 per acre. It is only right and proper that the farmers whose land was taken should be given the opportunity to lease some of this land from Bord na Móna. I call upon Bord na Móna and the Department of Energy to ensure that farmers in the area are given the opportunity of renting those lands.
Where farmers have land adjoining cutaway bogs, or where they have been employed by Bord na Móna, or are living on uneconomic holdings, it is not beyond the ability of people in this House and in the Department of Energy to devise means whereby they would be given an opportunity to purchase the land. In many cases they have given their lives to Bord na Móna. Their lands had been taken from them and now they have holdings adjoining the cutaway bogs. A means should be sought to give them an opportunity of renting, leasing or buying those lands, or a certain amount of that land at least. That is only fair and reasonable.
There is a considerable amount of bog land right across the country available at present, but it would be very difficult to put an exact figure on it. I think the forestry division have leased approximately 7,000 acres. However, I imagine that there are another 10,000 acres of cutaway bog available as well. Some of this land should be leased to local farmers at a rent similar to that paid by the forestry division and some should be sold to farmers in the locality. I would not be in favour of selling the land in huge tracts because this would only invite people with big bank balances to buy. However, if it is in small lots, the small farmer who is living with his wife and family in the area will have an opportunity to buy it. Indeed, some of the former Bord na Móna workers might choose to invest their redundancy payments in the bogs where they had been working.
There are a few more issues that I wish to dwell on. Section 9 of the Bill deals with the remuneration of officers and servants. It is important to bear in mind that a number of people have worked in Bord na Móna all their lives and would have contributed to an employees superannuation scheme. This scheme covered all the staff grades in Bord na Móna including, clerical staff, the accounts section, engineers, the works managers and all other permanent staff who over the years had built up Bord na Móna. The members of the Bord na Móna general employees' superannuation scheme would have paid 6 to 8 per cent of their wages in superannuation contributions down the years. They got a pension of one-eightieth of retirement salary for each year of service. Up until July 1984 these pensioners got their percentage increases just like their worker colleagues but since 1984 there has been no increase in the pensions. I cannot say exactly what loss they have incurred but I gather that members of this scheme have suffered losses in the region of 35 to 38 per cent because the pension fund could not afford it. A number of other State pension schemes had this problem but all the companies concerned paid their retired staff and paid the increases. Bord Na Móna are apparently the only company who have not paid the increases.
The people who got into bad health working for Bord na Móna are entitled to their pensions and to the increases which were promised. It is wrong not to pay those increases. It is natural justice that they should be paid what they were promised they would be paid, having contributed to superannuation over the years.
There has been a serious decline in the numbers employed by Bord na Móna across the midlands. Employment in County Offaly has been seriously affected. At the end of 1980, 3,383 people were employed in manufacturing industry in County Offaly and at the end of 1988 the figure had fallen to 2,915. At the end of 1980, 2,258 people were employed by Bord na Móna in County Offaly but by the end of 1988 that figure had reduced to 1,222. There was a loss of over 1,000 jobs in Bord na Móna alone. At the end of 1980 the ESB employed 545 people in Offaly. The figure at the end of 1988 was 562. All in all in an eight year period there has been a drop of over 1,400 jobs in the county, which has a population of 60,000 people. At the moment, of that population, only 4,700 people are employed in manufacturing industry, in Bord na Móna and in the ESB. That illustrates how serious is the situation there. The most urgent attention should be given to the attraction of industry to County Offaly. This whole area has been heavily dependent on Bord na Móna and the loss of those jobs has had a huge impact on the fabric of social life in the county. The Government should ensure that County Offaly is especially designated for the attraction of new jobs. The survival of County Offaly will depend on the provision of alternative industry at the earliest possible opportunity. I cannot emphasise that enough. Bord na Móna have been the main employer in the past in this area.
I am sad that the IDA failed miserably to attract sufficient industries to this area while those jobs were being whittled away year after year. Now is not the time for recrimination, however, now is the time to take action and to develop. I want the Government to ensure that County Offaly is provided with alternative industries as a matter of urgency.
Bord na Móna have been leasing land for forestry. The Department of Forestry have a veto over Bord na Móna in section 7 of this Bill. That veto should be withdrawn.
Bord na Móna are required to be in regular contact with the Department of Finance and other Government Departments mentioned in section 2 (6). That section is too restrictive. Bord na Móna should be allowed carry out transactions independently up to a sum of, say, £5 million. Both I and the people in the midlands recognise that change must occur. Bord na Móna workers and staff realise that change will come but change at all times must reflect the human factors involved so that workers will have the respect and dignity to which they are entitled. The safeguards I want included in the Bill are important for the employees of Bord na Móna, the people of the midlands and the people of the country as a whole. A properly based company like Bord na Móna which will produce fuel will be of benefit to everybody in the long term and I have no doubt the company will be viable for the next 30 or 40 years.
