Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

The Minister will be aware that the Motorola factory is sited in our shared constituency. However, its 350 workers come from all the Cork city and county constituencies and hence the interest of two other Cork colleagues this evening. I would still argue that the effect will be greatest in our constituency. More of the workers come from Cork South-Central and should the Motorola company cease activities the knock-on effect on service industries will be most felt there.

The Minister's comments in the local media have not assuaged fears. Perhaps he is being realistic in his assessment. We need to know what was known when and what the reality of the situation is. I fear that we could be engaged — I am not sure on whose behalf — in a cruel act of news management. What is a 30-day consultation period and why is it that just today another company, Thomson Scientific and Healthcare in Limerick, has chosen to go down exactly the same route? Is this the new way to make job announcements? It gives the prospect of jobs being lost and perhaps, at the most positive, scaling back some of those losses or delaying the eventual decision by a number of weeks. If this is the case it is the cruellest of decision-making methods.

The Government seems to be in thrall to the globalised world. This week's Central Bank quarterly report shows that the proportion of our economy based on manufacturing industry is dwindling. The figures do not lie. More of our economic activity is in services and less is in manufacturing industry. What is the Government's response? Does it have a strategy to protect and enhance manufacturing industry? We have had a number of reports about developing indigenous industry but we have yet to see the effect of any such jobs coming on stream and becoming a more vibrant element of the economy.

We need to ask questions about manufacturing industry. We had the recent announcement of the FCI jobs in Fermoy. That operation involved a manufacturing process, albeit at a different level. Even in the industrial estate where Motorola is located, in recent years another large manufacturer, Bourns Electronics, closed. These are warning signs. That these are all located in the Cork area is of greater concern to those of us representing the area. As the Minister responsible, Deputy Martin has a particular responsibility to address the fears that exist and give some assurance that this is not the beginning of a different future industrial environment in the Cork area. We need an appropriate industrial mix in the Cork area. If the IT and electronic sectors suffer, other factories and companies may have questions about their future. We should hear about this in media reports and prepare ourselves for impending decisions in three to four weeks' time. There should be a wide-ranging analysis of manufacturing industry and the Government's policy on that, particularly in the electronics and IT sectors and particularly in the Cork area.

In a different economic climate a State agency existed to pre-empt firms or industries at risk and decide whether measures could be taken to protect them. Maybe under EU rules that has changed and the Government cannot put capital directly into such companies. We should, however, consider establishing a State agency to do the type of work that Foras Forbartha Teoranta used to do, especially because of the job displacement in this field. It could examine whether there are dangers coming down the track and whether we can protect or enhance these industries.

The Government is not asking those questions. It is taking too much of a hands in the air attitude given the number of jobs in this industry that are affected in the Cork region. More jobs are affected in the add-on industries which support and service these companies. I urge the Minister to use the opportunity of the longer than usual contribution he will make on this Adjournment debate to address these questions and at least offer some immediate hope for the future of the workers in Motorola and for the future of manufacturing industry in the Cork area.

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