Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The question has nothing to do with the question that was tabled. I met Greencore to urge it to keep the Mallow sugar factory open and specifically asked that it be as generous as possible to the workers in any redundancy package to emerge. We have already met representatives of the workers and instructed the State agencies to do everything in their power to be of assistance to them. FÁS has been active in meeting workers, interviewing them and assessing their needs and endeavouring to place them with alternative employment in the region. I have asked Enterprise Ireland what it can do to generate further activity among its clients in the location and IDA Ireland to explore how it can attract companies to replace the jobs that have been lost in the sugar factory.

The Common Agricultural Policy has been in existence since the European Union was formed. That had an impact on the decisions Greencore took, though people differ as to the extent. Further restructuring aid is available and various claims have been made on it. Ultimately they will be decided on in another forum and the Minister for Agriculture and Food will make announcements on the mechanisms that are put in place to allocate it. There are guidelines from the European Commission in that regard. I have reservations about a common industrial policy because our industrial policy has been far more dynamic than that of the European Union. Low corporate tax rates, a strong emphasis on education and skills and the agility and responsiveness of Government to investment and pro-enterprise policies have been key factors in attracting many jobs to this country, to the extent that our unemployment rate is the lowest in Europe. We have good macreconomic policies and the economy is managed very well in that context. We will continue to work to help the workers in Mallow in every way we can. They are my priority.

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