Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

IBEC called on the Government this morning to address the serious issues that are now facing the food and drink industry, which it described as one of the most important to the economy. I back this call but I am sorry Government action was not instigated before the recent devastating announcement by Cadbury Ireland that 450 jobs are to be lost over the coming years in Coolock, which is in my constituency of Dublin North East. The company stated one of the key reasons for the cuts is skyrocketing energy costs and the accompanying loss of competitiveness. This constitutes another body blow for Coolock and the north side of the city. The Acting Chairman and I have worked long and hard on a number of initiatives to try to reverse unemployment trends in the region. Sadly, due to the incompetence of the Government, the jobs at the Cadbury plant are being placed in jeopardy.

This week, we all received a very interesting document from Forfás, Statement on the Costs of Doing Business in Ireland. It states utility costs, especially the cost of electricity, comprise a key business input cost that weakens Ireland's overall cost competitiveness. It emphasises that "Food processing (23 per cent of total costs) and biopharmaceutical manufacturing (22 per cent) are particularly sensitive to utility costs". This is very worrying as the pharmaceutical and food processing sectors play such important roles in our manufacturing industry.

An interesting statistic in the Forfás document is that Cork, Dublin and Galway rank as having more expensive electricity, gas, water and waste disposal costs than any other city surveyed across the world, apart from Maastricht in Holland. The National Competitiveness Council's publication must now act as an urgent wake-up call for the lethargic outgoing Government with regard to energy.

The Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources recently received correspondence from Mr. R. G. Budden, the managing director of Wellman International Limited, a fibres manufacturer in Kells, which is in the Minister's backyard. Mr. Budden stated: "I should like to make abundantly clear the very serious consequences for my company, and for employment in manufacturing in Ireland that arise from the current malaise on government energy policy." He refers to the "wilful destructiveness" of the energy regulator and states, astonishingly, that "the increases in electricity costs currently foreseen for 2007 could be sufficient of themselves to force this company (employing 300 people) into liquidation". If the Minister is not prepared to take care of his own constituency, he will not care for any. Deputy Carty will agree with me in this regard.

See this speech in context