Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have met the SEAI previously. I have many problems with the way people are supported. There are many sick, old and needy people who do not fall under the SEAI's remit.

My final question is for the midlands regional transition team. Its delegates referred to addressing the needs of those offered redundancy and emerging employment opportunities. How many of those made redundant have come to the delegates' organisations and how many have they dealt with? Is it the majority of those affected, all of them or half? The delegates also mentioned that, in the beginning, older workers were receiving access to the voluntary redundancy scheme. Does that mean that they have not been able to access it recently? The evidence I have is that workers of more than 61 or 62 years of age are not being allowed into the scheme because Bord na Móna can hold onto them for the few years they have left instead of paying them redundancy.

I would like the delegates to comment on something else that was mentioned this morning. In highlighting the nature of employment that has followed on from the cessation of peat production, the Littleton briquette factory in Tipperary was used as an example. It is instructive. Following the loss of 124 Bord na Móna jobs in Littleton, the factory is now a plastic recycling plant staffed by workers on one-year contracts earning barely more than the minimum wage. Would the delegates like to comment on that? Do they view that as the future for Bord na Móna workers in the best possible sense? They have jobs, but they certainly have nothing like the terms and conditions that they enjoyed previously or from which their communities have thrived.