Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses to today's meeting. I will concentrate on the midlands regional transition team as I am a Westmeath man myself. While there were plans and the team was working towards 2027, as such, since Friday the date is 2020. What initial communications have the witnesses had from the Departments with regard to funding and changing the outlook?

I would like to hear more from Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board about training. It was mentioned that people who are taking redundancy and who will be unemployed are being put forward for courses. I would like to hear about the age profile of the people the ETB is dealing with, the existing skills they have, and what kind of programmes are envisaged. The commentary suggests that everybody will walk out the gate of Bord na Móna and start retrofitting houses. For someone to retrofit a house at the moment, he or she must be on the approved contractor list. It is not as if it is going to be that easy. I would also like to hear the ETB's opinion on the kind of supports that will be available locally, apart from training individuals or re-employing them, for small and medium-sized businesses that have been supplying Bord na Móna or the ESB. In one conversation I had, somebody mentioned the caterers in Shannonbridge and the people who are supplying them. That is a stand-alone business that will take a serious hit. They are not going to go for retraining. What funds or facilities have been put at the disposal of the ETB to support people like that? The witnesses can answer the questions all together.

From an Offaly perspective, we hear about the funding and the €11 million that has been put in. The ESB and Bord na Móna are possibly the two biggest ratepayers to Offaly County Council. When one takes one from the other or adds one to the other, how is the council fixed financially? It is great to hear about all the money it is getting, but what will it lose when it balances its books at the end of the year? Will it be able to fund the personnel, facilities and programmes it needs to carry out?

The witnesses can answer this as briefly as possible. We are all aware in the midlands, Westmeath, Longford, Offaly and Laois that the majority of people in Bord na Móna were seasonal workers who were farmers. They worked part time in Bord na Móna and they were part-time farmers. One income supplemented, more so than complemented, the other. What interaction has there been with the farm agencies? We all know the situation with farming. That is for a different committee and I will not go into it now, but there are people who are facing a double whammy who are possibly not employable on a full-time basis because of that situation. How will that scenario be addressed?