Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - County Tipperary Factory Closure.

Mr. Spring

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. It is fitting that the last speaker in the debate should have been talking about women and the difficulties experienced by them in certain situations. This is another case, almost solely confined to women. On a visit to the plant in Nenagh a fortnight ago I came across 40 women outside the factory premises, closed for a number of months, but the women were staying at their post because they felt they had been very badly treated. Knowing the facts of the case I am sure the Minister of State will have no difficulty in agreeing with me that they have been very badly treated by their former employers.

Reliability Nederland BV opened and, it would appear, operated profitably for a number of years in Nenagh and had a good relationship with their staff. Unfortunately they ceased trading and closed on 10 April 1991. The staff and their union, SIPTU, had a meeting with the company prior to closure. It was clear to the union from the outset that the company would honour obligations and would negotiate a redundancy package with the workforce. The company attended a conciliation conference in the Labour Court following a meeting with the IDA. Unfortunately, the company seemed to withdraw from the commitments they had made originally. The union and the workforce went through the normal channel, the Labour Court, and a recommendation was made which would have cost the company approximately £150,000, but the company did not honour it. Certain plant and equipment was still in the premises for a number of months and the workforce felt, that while the equipment was in situ they had some leverage on the company. It appears this company were substantially grant-aided to the tune of about £500,000 by the IDA. Apparently, the IDA have accepted the premises in return for the grant aid but, from the figures I have, it goes nowhere near compensating the IDA, or indeed the Irish taxpayers, for the investment made.

I ask the Minister and the IDA to see whether negotiations can be completed with the company. Obviously, there is extreme difficulty in that the company have left Ireland and have relocated somewhere in Asia. There are difficulties in that respect from the Government's point of view. Nevertheless, it is an extremely difficult situation for the 40 female workers and their families. In most cases I understand they were the sole earners in their households and they have been left in a very difficult situation. I ask the Minister, even at this late stage, if some pressure can be brought to bear on the company through a sharing of the assets of the company which they have left. I ask the Minister if something can be done for this workforce who had a tremendous track record with the company over a long period. Unfortunately, they are the losers in this very sad story.

Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce (Mrs. O'Rourke)

I thank Deputy Spring for raising the matter. As Deputy Spring will recognise, this is essentially a matter for the Department of Labour but it has been given to the Department of Industry and Commerce, to deal with the written reply which the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Deputy O'Malley, gave last week on the matter.

The history of the firm is as outlined by Deputy Spring, one of great promise and hope when it set up in Nenagh. Everybody was delighted, as one always is, at the start of a new industry. Matters proceeded thus for a long time until the old story reasserted itself of the parent company running into difficulties, gradually the slow down until eventually the sad news reached the small town in Ireland. That story is familiar and sad when it is brought to people's doorsteps. I do not say "small town" in any derogatory sense; I mean it in the sense of the parent company looking at the other country and deciding on a course of action. Having read the details it echoed stories from many other industries and towns. As Deputy Spring pointed out, the workforce was mainly female.

I am aware of the sadness involved in the inevitable pulling of the plug on their small, hitherto thriving, little company, serving themselves and their homes and their domestic situations and looking "safe". That was not to be. The parent company — through no fault of their own — ran into great difficulties in the US and gradually began to pull out of their responsibilities because they could no longer afford to keep up all their activities and finally the sad news reached Ireland. The trauma of that was bad enough. A certain Minister of State and a Cabinet Minister made valiant efforts both in the winding-down stages and in the redundancy discussions to try to have something more than the statutory payments made to the employees of this firm.

Deputy Spring is correct when he says there was an arrangement with the IDA who accepted the premises as a payment towards the considerable grant payments which had been made to the firm earlier. What the Deputy is about tonight is in connection with the redundancy payments for the employees. One story has ended but not completely in that the IDA are making considerable efforts to find an alternative firm to take over the premises and, hopefully, to start employment again. That is one aspect and I hope it will be successful.

In connection with the redundancy payments, which is the human side of what has happened, the statutory payments will be honoured. The Department of Labour have informed me and the Department of Industry and Commerce that that is all the company can now afford to pay. I have listened closely to what Deputy Spring has said on the matter. Tomorrow, I will get in touch with my colleague, the Minister for Labour, Deputy Cowen, to see whether something further can be done with regard to those women who have been dealt with according to the strict letter of the law regarding what should be paid to them but for whom a very real effort should be made in the context of what will be done with the premises, the firm and the repayment. Surely some component of that could be spent on the redundancy payments. I will certainly examine that matter.