Ms Patricia King:

We think it should be the Minister, as the main shareholder in the company, who states that to Bord na Móna, given the way it is behaving and the urgency of this situation. Together with representatives from the group of unions, I spent one hour and 40 minutes trying to convince the Minister that this was the only course of action and that he needed to intervene urgently. Some eight weeks later, that still has not happened. The refusals of the company to engage have become more forthright. As can be imagined, that is highly frustrating for those of us engaged in trying to represent the best interests of the workers. Even on a personal level, I have chased this issue around like a cat chasing a mouse for the past three weeks. I have knocked on all of the doors and some of them opened and some did not. Senior people in Bord na Móna, however, have decided that they are not going to engage and that is it.