Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the loss of 130 jobs at Grove Turkeys in Smithboro, County Monaghan. It is devastating for the workers, their families and the local community with all the consequences of unemployment. There is also an impact for 85 farmers on both sides of the Border who are the producers, as well as for the contractors who support those producers. The main problem is the inability to compete with low-cost countries.

The main problem for the poultry industry — a very important industry in my constituency, especially in County Monaghan — is the cost of feed, which has increased by €150 per tonne in recent years. There is increased global demand and much of the land is being used for bio-fuel, although it is important we do not end up in a situation where we have petrol for our cars but no bread. The pig industry also suffers from the high cost of feed and that is also an important industry in my own constituency. We cannot compete with cheap imports coming into the country, especially from Brazil. In recent times, the devaluation of sterling by 12% against the euro has had a major impact. The problems are not confined to Ireland because the number of turkeys killed in the UK have been reduced from 45 million to 15 million in the past ten years. The question is what needs to be done.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Wallace, for coming to the House to take the question. The issue of food labelling rests with her Department. There is no doubt the consumer prefers Irish produce. It is important that when they go to the supermarket they can identify it. There must be labelling so they can identify the country of origin. There are two markets in Ireland for turkeys. There is a seasonal market at Christmas and Easter where people like a fresh turkey. We are well able to compete in this market. However, for the remainder of the year we deal with cheaper commodity poultry and we cannot compete.

I ask the Minister of State to speak to her colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to ensure the workers at Grove Turkeys have every opportunity to find new jobs. I call on the State agencies that have a role to play to do urgently what needs to be done. This includes skills assessments and retraining if necessary. IDA Ireland owns land in Monaghan town and perhaps the time is right to build an advance factory and new office space. The county council economic sub-group should get the support of all the resources in the State that are necessary to ensure new jobs are found for these workers.

There has been substantial investment in Monaghan in recent years, especially in roads. One can now drive from Monaghan town to Dublin without passing through a town or a village. There has also been investment in education, especially DKIT in Dundalk, as well as in buildings in the county such as M-Tek 1 and M-Tek 2. Monaghan was never more attractive for the creation of new industry and I hope there will be work for those who are losing their employment in Grove Turkeys.

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