Ms Anna-Marie Curry:

Bord na Móna is trying to ensure that this is done through a voluntary scheme. Unfortunately, we do not know who will take that up. We have done considerable work with all the relevant authorities and there is a mosaic of different supports available. However, until we launch the scheme, and have the names, we cannot identify the specific skills.

We have had experience of doing this in the case of the Littleton briquette factory, where we sat down with each of the individuals and looked at their needs. We asked if they wanted to take the package and go immediately to other employment, in which case we would have been able to provide certain types of support. We asked if they needed upskilling, reskilling or certification of the skills they had been using in Bord na Móna, and we were able to provide supports in that regard. Some people opted to start up their own businesses and we were able to provide them with supports as well. We have been in contact with the relevant authorities at national and European Commission level on this. We can prepare applications but they all require the names of the people involved and the training courses they want to go on. We cannot take it to the next stage without those bits of information but we are ready for that stage as we launch the voluntary redundancy programme.

We have been working with the Department of Education and Skills on the globalisation fund and we are dealing with the climate action fund. Some of our funding options are for staff for the purposes of the "just transition" and some are for new programmes so that we can directly provide alternative employment ourselves.