I am pleased to inform the Deputy that, on my direction, Enterprise Ireland, FÁS and the IDA have adopted a coordinated approach in response to the closure of the major IFI plants in Cork and Arklow. The approach is directed at assisting all employees affected by the closure and is already under way.
The co-ordinated approach has two objectives, firstly to enhance and facilitate the future employment prospects of the IFI workforce and secondly to identify and support any individual who wishes to start their own business. The programme to implement this strategy is summarised as follows with the relevant responsible agency indicated: registration of all employees, their occupation and skill level (FÁS); assessing job prospects and skill requirements in the relevant localities (FÁS, EI, IDA); encouraging local companies to consider IFI employees for job opportunities (EI); guidance interviews available for all IFI employees (FÁS); retraining courses provided to facilitate future job prospects of IFI employees with course content devised to match existing and projected local requirements (FÁS, IDA); presentations in both Cork and Arklow by EI and the county enterprise board (CEB) executives on starting your own business detailing the range of supports available from EI and the CEB (EI and CEB); follow up one-to-one interviews with employees interested in starting their own businesses, (EI, CEB). This programme of involvement is being delivered in Cork and Arklow by the regionally based staff of the agencies and is coordinated by a selected senior executive in each agency.