Mr. Willie Noone:

The Acting Chairman asked about retaining the same number of jobs. Bord na Móna has come forward with plans. Our view is that it has made some bad decisions in the recent past. However, we have been told that it has had these plans robustly audited and checked for risk regarding the industries it has proposed. We can only accept its bona fides. Bord na Móna believes the quantum of jobs will be equal to the number of jobs that are being lost. The problem we have is with the age profile in the company. These jobs may not come on-stream quick enough to aid the people who are currently losing their jobs. That is also tied in with the redundancy package, which I keep bringing up. The quantum of the redundancy package is not the issue, in case anyone might think it is. The issue is the fairness of how it is being distributed. The company is telling us it will select people for redundancy on financial criteria. That means it will make whatever selection is most financially advantageous to the company. It will intend to let people with 25 years' service go and keep people who may be in their 60s. As far the company is concerned, it is more financially advantageous to get rid of those who may be in their 30s or 40s. Our view is that it should exit those who are in their 60s and who at this stage are not going to be re-employed in a job that may come on-stream in five or six years because they will be too old. The company needs to let those older people out and re-skill and retrain those who are in their 30s and 40s and who will be able to benefit. That is the issue.