Tonight I raise a most important matter affecting two important factories in County Offaly. This evening Derrinlough and Croghan briquette factories ceased to function and are closed for the next 18 weeks, save for maintenance staff in each factory.
There are four briquette factories in the country — Derrinlough, Croghan, Lullymore and Littleton. In 1988 and 1989 the sales of briquettes were £23.4 million and they accounted for 20 per cent of the company's total sales.
My reasons for opposing the closure of Derrinlough and Croghan briquette factories are as follow. Approximately 60 workers will be laid off in Derrinlough and approximately 45 workers will be laid off in Croghan at a time when they should be at peak production during the summer months. The Government must be aware that such job losses across Offaly are a matter of deep concern to me as somebody elected by the people of Offaly to speak on their behalf in Dáil Éireann.
I am opposed to these closures. I believe they are wrong and unnecessary. Unemployment is already too high in the country. These lay-offs will aggravate further an already difficult situation, made even worse by the announcement yesterday about Atlantic Mills, a textile firm in Tullamore which is laying off approximately 35 workers.
I have already written to the managing director of Bord na Móna and asked him to reconsider the decision to close Derrinlough and Croghan briquette factories.
My main reason for raising this matter here tonight is to bring to the attention of the Minister for Energy, as a member of the Government, some points I believe are of the utmost importance. Briquettes and turf are indigenous fuels which provide a great number of jobs in the midlands. Jobs are high on Fine Gael's priority list, as is a clean environment. The Government speak about a clean environment, yet not alone are they allowing a tax on briquettes and turf but they have increased VAT from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent.
Burning briquettes and turf benefits the economy by savings on imports of coal and oil. The Government are imposing a tax on environment friendly fuel. Briquettes and turf should be zero rated and if there is some difficulty with this under EC law, then the maximum VAT rate should be 1 per cent.
In the last three to four years nearly 2,000 jobs have been lost in Bord na Móna, which has had a very severe impact on the economy of the midlands. It has been a major disappointment to Bord na Móna, the people of Offaly and the people of the midlands, that the Government did not provide any type of material support for Bord na Móna. Bord na Móna's financial position was due in large measure to their making major investments in indigenous resources as part of the Government's energy policy, but now that international energy prices have fallen Bord na Móna and their staff have been left high and dry by both Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. Bord na Móna are handicapped by a huge debt of about £100 million which costs the company approximately £22 million in interest repayments each year.
In speaking for the people of Offaly, and particularly the workers in Derrinlough and Croghan, let me say that even at this stage the Government should recognise the importance of maintaining our four existing briquette factories. Briquettes and turf are indigenous, clean fuels. Natural gas is equally clean, and it is Irish. BGE gave a £600 voucher to encourage people to install the natural gas in their homes and allowed a 50 per cent discount on therms used above a certain figure. Rather than letting go 100 workers in County Offaly, the Government should display an understanding of the seriousness of what is happening to Bord na Móna. Their sales in Derrinlough have been excellent and there are also excellent staff-customer relationships. Sales in Croghan have been equally good and there is a similarly good relationship there between staff and customers. Bord na Móna workers and staff have made tremendous sacrifices to ensure the survival of their jobs and of the company. Such efforts deserve a much better response from the Government than being told they are to go on the dole for four months.
I have known Bord na Móna workers over the years and they take pride in their work and in their company. They never wanted the dole. These factories should be kept open and the Government have it in their power to ensure that.