Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me once again to raise the matter of the haemorrhage of job losses throughout Donegal. I refer in particular to losses in Donegal town and south Donegal. It is almost two years since Hospira in Donegal town announced its intention to cease production with a loss of 560 jobs. In February last year, Magee, one of the flagship companies of the Donegal textile industry, established there for more than 100 years, announced that 60 workers would be made redundant in its production sector. These two announcements dealt a body blow not only to the economy of Donegal town and south Donegal but to the confidence of the entire community, particularly the business community.

These job losses in Donegal town are only the tip of the iceberg that is the long litany of losses throughout County Donegal in the ten years since this Government and its predecessor took office. A conservative estimate is that during these ten years, 12,000 jobs were lost throughout the county. This leaves Donegal with four to five times the national unemployment rate.

Some of the job losses include 3,500 at Fruit of the Loom, 700 at Unifi in Letterkenny, 200 at Comerama in my parish, 70 at the Donegal Shirt Company, 120 at Jaybees, 140 at Nenagh Models in Castlefin, 66 at Herdman's in Ballbofey, 115 at Dianorm in Gweedore, 300 at Ruibéar Motair Teoranta, 50 at Europlas, 280 at Qualtron, 120 at BMR and 55 at Donegal Parian China in Ballyshannon. The list goes on. In 1998, a task force report called for the creation of 9,000 jobs by the end of 2005. In 2007, however, only 1,000 jobs have been created. That is the record of the Government. That is why I continuously raise it in the House.

Over three years ago Donegal town was designated as a decentralisation location for 200 staff of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. These jobs were to have been decentralised to Donegal town by the end of last year. It is now 2007 and not one job has been relocated to Donegal town. What has happened to those 200 jobs? Is there a town in Ireland which deserves to be given a higher priority than a town which has lost 700 or 800 jobs in the past two years? No wonder the town and its hinterland feel forgotten, ignored and overlooked. We regularly hear of multinationals deciding to locate in other parts of this country, and good luck to them. Time and again, Donegal, particularly Donegal town, seem to be overlooked.

There have been task force reports and interdepartmental committees but we are still waiting for some concrete results on the jobs front. Donegal has so much to offer interested industries. It has a highly skilled workforce, excellent industrial relations and two first rate IT centres in the north west — one in Letterkenny and one in Sligo. Unfortunately, 90% or more of the graduates from Letterkenny IT have had to leave the county to use their skills elsewhere. The price of housing is among the most competitive in the country. The environment is pleasant and the roads are improving yet we are still unable to attract these jobs.

An innovative solution which I advocated in the House as recently as last week is to apply a tax exemption which is already operational in the upper and mid-Shannon basins. There is no reason it should not be extended to County Donegal. It is already available in County Leitrim, the only county in the Republic with which we have a land border. It would be natural and practical to extend it to County Donegal. If that was done, it would generate much inward investment and activity and would create badly needed jobs in Donegal and in the tourism industry.

I appeal to the Minister to get in touch with the agencies and address the crying need for employment in the area. In many families the sole bread winner has been employed in one of these factories — in Hospira or Magee. Many of them have financial demands such as mortgages and the cost of educating their children. The constituency has two Ministers but it has been overlooked, ignored and taken for granted. I ask the Minister of State to outline what he, his Department and the Government are doing to redress this unemployment imbalance in Donegal.

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