I very much appreciate the opportunity to raise this very serious matter on the Adjournment. I wish to share my time with my colleague, Deputy Sheehan, who also has an interest in this issue.
Adjournment Debate. - Dunmanway (Cork) Job Losses.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
We work as a team.
That is why both of us are here. The loss of 184 jobs at the Molnlycke Factory is a disaster for the town of Dunmanway, County Cork, of the same proportions as the Digital disaster for Galway. Following the layoff of 60 temporary workers approximately six months ago and a further 98 employees in November, it is intended to make an additional 28 people redundant next Friday. This means that out of a total workforce of approximately 300, including temporary staff, nearly two-thirds will have lost their jobs.
Needless to say, the Molnlycke Factory has been the main employer in the Dunmanway area and the loss of approximately 200 jobs will be a savage blow to the town and its surrounding areas. To compound the problem, approximately 30 jobs were lost with the closure of the Interhat Factory in the town last August and a further 25 employees were let go from a nearby timber company. There was much publicity and expression of concern from the Government following the Digital disaster, and rightly so. Understandably, too, the people of Dunmanway feel that they also deserve some attention from the Government for the blight that has been cast over their town. There has been no significant response from the Government to the huge problems that confront almost 200 additional people who are now unemployed in the Dunmanway district. Townspeople have also suffered a mortal blow as a consequence. Many additional service jobs have already also been lost in the shops and businesses of the town because the wage packets are no longer there and turnover has dropped drastically in most premises.
The Government must respond to this cry for help. Specifically, I want special priority to be given to the town by all Government agencies and every effort made to provide replacement industrial jobs.
One heartening response to the crisis is that the local community leaders have banded together with ex-employees in a voluntary committee to investigate job possibilities themselves. A huge amount of work has been done by this committee to date and indeed any prospective industrial employer has a readymade local organisation ready and more than willing to help in the area.
I also accept that local officers of the IDA have responded to requests for information and have been sympathetic to the cares and concerns expressed by the committee. This is not enough. I want action from the Government. I want special priority given to the town of Dunmanway which has suffered such great job losses. Unless I have assurances from the Minister in response to this request, followed by immediate action, the people of Dunmanway will very rightly feel that theirs is a neglected town and one that has been written off by this Government. The time for action is now and on behalf of the people of Dunmanway I demand that action.
I thank my colleague, Deputy O'Keeffe, for allowing me an opportunity to speak on this important matter. The final stage in the reduction of the workforce in Molnlycke has taken place. A clear SOS is going out from Deputy O'Keeffe and myself to the Minister urging immediate action to alleviate this drastic problem in Dunmanway. These people have been laid off by Molnlycke because they brought in people from the Far East and trained them in Dunmanway. The company can employ labour more cheaply in the Far East than here. It is not good enough for an international company to take advantage of people here and then pull out.
The lay-off of Digital workers in Galway received very wide media coverage but the problem in Dunmanway is of equal importance to the people in that town and throughout the constituency. Almost two-thirds of the workforce is to be made redundant. The majority of these people have to meet hefty loan repayments. Pious platitudes from the Minister are not enough. We need action and a replacement industry for Dunmanway to fill the vacuum which has been created.
I thank Deputies O'Keeffe and Sheehan for bringing this matter to the attention of the Dáil. They have put forward their point of view with undoubted sincerity and vehemence.
There is no doubt that representing one's town and constituency give words great potency on such occasions. Adjournment debates are the true expression of constituency concerns on the floor of this House.
I share the concerns of the Deputies about the difficulties being experienced by Molnlycke. The company set up as Steritex Limited in 1974, producing plastic medical disposable surgical gowns, caps and drapes. It was part of a Swedish enterprise. The Deputies have this information.
Unfortunately, competition from Far Eastern products has greatly affected the company in its European markets and Molnlycke no longer produces surgical gowns. The Dunmanway factory today produces an extensive range of disposable surgical drapes. These products are unique to Dunmanway and were introduced in 1990. They were part of positive research and development, which the firm undertook, to get into an area where there was the prospect of a growing market. It was hoped that a smooth slow-down in the production of gowns would occur at Dunmanway and that this reduction would be compensated for by an increase in the production of drapes. It did not work out that way.
The company has consistently met and, indeed, exceeded its employment target of 245 jobs, reaching peak employment of 261 in the Cork operation in 1991. However, in September 1992 the company indicated that they intended seeking redundancies at the Dunmanway plant. On 23 October 1992 the company announced that they would be seeking 126 redundancies from the period December 1992 to March 1993, thus leaving a permanent workforce of 120 people in Dunmanway.
The company is optimistic. I appreciate the strength of the concerns expressed by the Deputies. It is too early to say when the growth of the drapes business might mean an increase in employment. Output growth is dependent on the acceptance by the European market of the concept of disposable drapes. In the US at present 90 per cent of the market is supplied by disposable drapes, while in the European market only 30 per cent is so suppied. The company hope to close that gap and it is expected that the European market will grow towards US levels. I hope that a growth in the disposable drapes market will justify the foresight of the Dunmanway firm in looking to this area and that it will be fruitful for them. Very often firms have not looked to the future and have not seen the areas into which they could grow and diversify. This firm has done so and it is now a matter of marketing to see that the European market makes up the leeway.
The Department is conscious of the employment situation in the south-west Cork area and of the impact of job losses. Deputies are quite right in claiming that proportionately the impact of these job losses in Dunmanway and the surrounding area is just as great as the impact of the Digital job losses in Galway. We share the huge sense of loss at Digital but it must be remembered that other areas in the country are experiencing poignant examples of job losses.
I can assure the Deputies that the IDA will continue strenuous efforts to locate new industries in the area, which is being marketed as an entity. While support agencies play an important part in assisting industrial development, much depends on the external trading environment. I hope that the objects for this firm will in time lead to a growth in its market share. I am interested in the company and in the way it has set about its business. I genuinely feel there is hope and cause for optimism in Dunmanway in the future growth of the firm.