Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our visitors. I think there is a difference between the expectation and the actual. Workers were entitled to expect, when all the publicity was there about diversification, that job security, the standards and the hours they work would be protected.

That was one of the reasons put forward in terms of merger and diversification. The industry employed approximately 4,000 people in the 1980s and currently employs approximately 2,000. On the one hand we are talking about diversification and securing employment while on the other hand we have seen a dramatic reduction in employment and the consequential impact on the communities in which those jobs were held. There is also a major impact on the income of people working in those industries. We can all empathise with the problem that creates. If someone has a fixed income coming in every week or every month, he or she depends on it, and a reduction would have a big impact. Surely some way could have been found to look at the issue under the heading of diversification or whatever else to find alternative employment in the event of the weather being bad and not conducive to saving turf or if sales are not as good as projected.

It is interesting to note that there was no reference in today's discussion about the potential for exports. We complain about imports from Northern Ireland but no mention at all was made of potential for exports. Have we given up on peat?