Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Rabbitte met the workers yesterday and a number of my colleagues met them in the past week. They have been engaged in briefing sessions. They were with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on Sunday morning. A number of Deputies from my party have raised the issue with me also.

I wish to make three points I have previously made on this issue. Greencore did extremely well from the European Union package and the arrangements that were outlined in the agreement on the restructuring of the sugar industry. We had an obligation to fulfil the full terms of that agreement to get the maximum resources. We did that. At the time I made the point, as did the Minister for Agriculture and Food and other Ministers, that Greencore was doing very well, and while many of the farmers and workers involved believed they could get another few harvesting years, the least they could expect was for these issues to be resolved. The Minister and others stated at the time that the arrangement should be completed regarding the redundancy package and that other issues should also be resolved by Greencore.

The State always honours Labour Court decisions. In the decades since 1946, it is very rare for it not to honour cases. I expect any company, especially large public companies, to do likewise. I expect Greencore to do likewise. The officials dealing with social partnership and the trade union movements are very clear on what they feel about this case.

The company expects to carry out a large development and to win support for this in terms of zoning changes and restructuring plans for the plant. I wish the company well in its long-term development plans in terms of trying to generate employment and new action. It is a small price for it to pay to deal with the staff and pay up. As I stated outside the House, the company should do this forthwith. It is not a big deal for the company which is in a good position.

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