Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 February 2007
149 Mr. G. Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will confirm that payment of Labour Court recommendations to farm workers in Mallow was committed to in Greencore’s application for restructuring aid. [5848/07]
Amharc ar fhreagra150 Mr. G. Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will confirm that if Greencore does not honour the Labour Court recommendation to farm workers in Mallow, its current application for restructuring aid will be invalid; and if in these circumstances, when granting the application, she will make the payment of redundancy payments in line with the Labour Court recommendation a legally binding condition. [5849/07]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 149 and 150 together.
Under the relevant EU regulations, the restructuring aid for the sugar industry has to be drawn down on the basis of an aid application submitted by the sugar processor. The applications must contain a restructuring plan, including a social plan detailing the actions planned in particular with respect to re-training, redeployment and early retirement of the workforce concerned. In July 2006, Greencore duly submitted such an application, which indicated that the proposed redundancy payments were in accordance with the ruling of the Labour Court.
I am aware that there is an ongoing dispute between the company and the workers over the interpretation of the Labour Court recommendation. I regret that the parties have not yet resolved their differences but, as I have explained on a number of occasions, I have no function in that regard. The position regarding that dispute was outlined by my colleague the Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr. Tony Killeen TD, in reply to a Parliamentary Question on Wednesday 31 January 2007.
The aid application submitted by Greencore was approved in September subject to the outcome of the Judicial Review proceedings instituted by Greencore in respect of the Government decisions regarding the allocation of the aid. In view of these legal proceedings, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further.
