I am disappointed that the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Quinn, is not present as I wanted to direct some of my comments to him. This is not to take away from the expertise of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Rourke. The loss of 150 jobs at one of the key industries in Swords, County Dublin, will have a devastating effect on the families concerned and on the economy generally in Swords and the surrounding towns of north County Dublin. Amdahl set up a small factory in Ireland with 30 workers in 1978 but by 1992 when they moved to Swords the labour force was 638. Last October Amdahl sought 60 voluntary redundancies and it was assumed this was a necessary step to reflect the world difficulties being suffered by mainframe computer suppliers. The sudden announcement last week by Amdahl Corporation of the need of a worldwide reduction of 1,200 from the workforce took the Amdahl workers by surprise. The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Quinn, visited the Amdahl Corporation in northern California on 16 March accompanied by the IDA representative for the US west coast and the the secretary of his Department, Mr. Bonnar. Was the Minister warned of impending job losses at that time? If so, what case did he make to save these jobs? It strikes me that the same effort and pressure was not put into preventing the loss of jobs in this instance as was put into fighting for the retention of jobs in Digital, Galway, albeit unsuccessfully.
The IDA has given grants of approximately £9 million to Amdahl and Amdahl has made huge investments in the company through training and service in the general area. The jobs of the excellently skilled staff are threatened by the announcement of 150 redundancies. Will the Minister confirm that every effort is being made to replace these lost jobs in my constituency as a matter of urgency? Allied to this devastating news is the widespread concern already being expressed in thousands of households in north County Dublin concerning the future of the jobs in Aer Lingus. In many families if a member loses his or her job in one company there is also the possibility that another member of the family will lose his or her job in the other company. I am appealing to the Minister to replace these jobs as quickly as possible and to use the excellent skills of the workers which will become available when these redundancies come about.
I wish to pay tribute to the input of Amdahl in its plant in Swords which has benefited its employees and the wider community. Amdahl has been extremely generous in its support for many community projects, including a scholarship scheme which it is running currently for students from the local secondary schools who can apply for university grants and if successful they are funded all through university by Amdahl.
Will the Minister give me an assurance that this is the end of the redundancies to be sought by Amdahl and that the remaining 400 jobs are secure and will not be lost?
I appeal to the Minister, as a person who is not from the Dublin area, to recognise that the loss of this number of jobs is as devastating to Swords and its surroundings as it would be to some of the smaller towns throughout Ireland where huge efforts are made to replace lost industries. I would not like anybody in the Department to assume that because Dublin is the capital and people may find jobs in neighbouring areas there is not a need for the urgent replacement of these jobs and a new factory for Swords.