Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-North Leitrim, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment.

Last week, GlaxoSmithKline announced it was ceasing its operations in Sligo and would be making redundant 250 employees redundant over the next three years. Stiefel which commenced operations in Sligo in 1975, some 34 years ago, has been a reputable company and has provided great employment down through the years but is now proposing to make 250 employees redundant.

The announcement of the closure of Stiefel and the resultant redundancies came as a hammer blow. At the same time Abbott Ireland in Sligo announced it proposed to make 40 employees redundant. Abbott Ireland is also an excellent employer, employing 1,100 people. The Stiefel plant was purchased in July 2009. It would be wrong if multinational companies were allowed to buy out the opposition and later close those factories. I acknowledge that GlaxoSmithKline employs approximately 1,500 people in this country at their Dublin and Cork plants. However, this type of trend should not be permitted. I am not suggesting that that is what happened in this case but, that a company bought out in July 2009 has now announced its intention to cease operations at that plant is, to me, suspicious.

I call on the Minister to bring together the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Sligo Chamber of Commerce and Sligo Enterprise Board to work to ensure this excellent and modern factory is reopened. All that can be done should be done to attract into Sligo a new manufacturing company which could provide employment for the excellent staff of Stiefel. I call on the Minister to ensure this is done as soon as possible. There are a number of empty factories in the IDA business park in Sligo. There is no doubt but that Sligo is suffering like every other region in the country. The immediate availability of these factories must make the task of attracting business into the area a lot easier.

The temporary employment subsidy scheme was established to support manufacturing companies which employ more than ten people. I ask that this scheme be extended to cover small indigenous companies who employ more than ten people, such as in the hotel and motor business. These businesses need support in the current climate. It would be better for us to support these people in their current employment rather than have to support them through social welfare and so on. I know the people concerned would prefer to be working. I call on the Minister to consider introducing a scheme to support indigenous companies.

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