Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Ned O'Keeffe for his comments. I am taking this Adjournment debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

I should put on record the fact that the Minister does not have a direct role in the resolution of this or similar disputes. I can, however, understand Deputy Ned O'Keeffe's concerns about the restructuring proposals at the Dairygold Co-Operative Society Limited milk powder plant in Mallow where the company has announced that 35 full-time positions will be affected from January 2006. From then, work will only be available on a seasonal basis for these staff. It has been reported that the company's proposals for the Mallow plant could result in a reduction in the number of working weeks per worker to between 26 and 30 weeks per year. The milk powder plant at Mallow is one of three operated by Dairygold. The other two are located at Mitchelstown and Mogeely.

Dairygold Co-Operative is one of the major employers in the south and is Ireland's largest farmer owned food company and multi-purpose agribusiness. As well as dairy production, its business interests include meat processing, animal feed manufacture, grain trading, the supply of farm inputs and the provision of farm services, including animal breeding and livestock marketing. It also provides retail services. Dairygold Co-Op employs approximately 2,000 people and has an annual turnover in excess of €1 billion.

The union claims that management tried to introduce new shift arrangements in November, four weeks ahead of schedule. When the workers continued to work the old shift pattern, they were issued with written warnings and a number of workers were suspended. SIPTU served seven days' notice of industrial action on the company. At meetings up to and including 6 December 2005 with the company and SIPTU, the Labour Relations Commission succeeded in facilitating the resolution of some of the issues in dispute and others were referred to the Labour Court. On 6 December, the Labour Relations Commission made proposals for the resolution of some of the outstanding issues in dispute between the parties. I understand that both the company and the trade union representatives agreed to recommend the LRC proposals to senior management and their members, respectively. However, the SIPTU members rejected elements of the proposals and industrial action began on Thursday last, 8 December 2005.

The Labour Relations Commission has continued to maintain contact with the parties and has invited both sides to conciliation talks to explore ways of resolving the outstanding issues. I understand that the LRC is meeting the parties in Mallow this evening to seek a resolution of the outstanding issues. I encourage both sides to engage constructively with the LRC in an effort to find a resolution to the dispute.

The system of industrial relations in Ireland is essentially voluntary in nature. For cases where the parties have failed to find a solution to outstanding issues, however, the State provides the dispute settling machinery of the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. The experience and expertise of these services are available to the parties. Ultimately however, responsibility for the resolution of issues in dispute lies with the parties concerned.

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