Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

The lack of competitiveness mentioned by my colleague, in addition to the failure of a product to evolve, has had a devastating effect on Wicklow in the past couple of weeks. The Minister says we are in top place in Europe but that is little consolation when jobs can be moved to other countries. A total of 140 jobs at AO Smith Corporation in Bray were lost last week while 94 jobs will be lost at Veha in Wicklow town at the end of the month. Will the Minister use his Department's agencies to involve the workers concerned in a reskilling or retraining programme?

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