Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

When the draft European Union sugar proposals were outlined in 2005, the Minister was not in his present portfolio. His colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Coughlan, was then Minister for Agriculture and Food. In the Dáil on 2 May 2005, she blamed the decision to close the Carlow factory on the likely consequences of reform but assured Members at the time that Greencore would keep Mallow open. Of course, it decided to close the plant anyway, a decision that again was blamed on the European Union. The European Union Court of Auditors, however, have now informed Members that the closure was unnecessary, that Greencore had decided to close it before the reforms were in place and that there was no valid commercial reason for the company to close that factory.

This was a profitable company, like many others the Government has allowed to close, such as SR Technics or the glass bottle companies, because according to the Government, ultimately the market is king. In this instance, however, it was not the market but speculators who appear to have been king. Major questions remain outstanding regarding the role of Liam Carroll in this debacle. It is a pity the Tánaiste is not in the House to answer questions on how Mr. Carroll's investment in Greencore came about. What did he know beforehand? In other countries, it is called insider trading when someone knows in advance what a company is doing and buys out a huge number of shares. These questions have not been answered and the only people who suffered because of it were the Irish people and, in particular, the workers and farmers who worked, supplied and depended upon both the Carlow and Mallow factories.

In July 2005, the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, completely rejected the European Union reform proposals as an attack on the Irish sugar industry. It is a pity she did not continue with this line. On 17 November 2005, the then Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Browne, told the Seanad that from Ireland's perspective, the proposals were unacceptable, that the Government would defend Irish sugar and that he was confident the sector would be saved. Greencore obviously had a different plan and different ideas because it was planning to get out of sugar production. What then persuaded the Minister to change her mind and to support Greencore and argue the position she took only one month later? In December 2005, before the European Union had formally ratified the reform agreement, Deputy Coughlan justified the closure in Carlow and referred to what she foresaw as a possible total closure of the sugar industry as a consequence of the European Union's actions.

It always has been very easy for the Government to blame the European Union for everything because it lacks the guts to stand up to the European Union or even to examine or challenge its directives. The Government has been a willing partner in most of the crimes in respect of closures but has blamed the European Union. Did the Minister know in December 2005 that Greencore was about to close the Mallow plant? I believe so and this is a charge against the then Minister that she should be in this House to answer. Even though Members have been told that no one seemed to know and that there was no plan, I encourage the Garda Síochána fraud squad to examine the records and the meetings that Greencore held at that point to ascertain what it was planning, because it is fraud.

In December 2005, the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, promised that in the event of what only she and Greencore foresaw as an inevitability, namely, total closure, handsome compensation would be available. Greencore certainly benefited and received its compensation to the tune of €100 million. The company then had to be dragged into the courts by the workers to secure their redundancy payments. The European Court of Auditors now states that it cost more to close the Irish sugar industry then it would have cost to keep it alive. When my colleague, Deputy Ferris, questioned the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, on the generous handout to the Greencore chancers, it emerged that Greencore also received more in compensation than it would have done had it decided to go into bio-fuel production, which would have been an alternative use of the facilities, saved many jobs and helped the farmers in the region.

In addition, in Carlow, inspired by that genius of the property market, Liam Carroll and his companies decided that it would be best to build apartments on the site rather than facing the prospect of keeping hundreds of people in employment and giving work to thousands of farmers. It was always worthwhile destroying the livelihoods of many to benefit property speculators.

In reply to my colleague, Deputy Ferris, on 24 October 2006, the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, again blamed the closure of the plant in Mallow on the European Union. In the light of the auditors' report, does she accept that this was not an accurate claim? It was not the fault of the European Union but the fault and responsibility of the then Minister and stemmed from the greed associated with speculation on property and sites for apartments and the like. If it was not the European Union's fault, why did the Minister defend the Greencore speculators' decision to destroy one of the most successful industries in the country and the livelihoods of hundreds of people who worked in and supplied that industry?

The then Minister also waffled about the EU plan requiring restructuring of the sugar industry. What part of restructuring an industry involves selling the plant, destroying the buildings, sacking the workers, leaving farmers with no one to buy their beet and, worse again, incompetently attempting to cash in on a dying property market by planning, in the case of the plant in Carlow, to build apartments there?

Returning to the Greencore restructuring plan, did the then Minister or her officials go to the trouble of examining the EU proposals and their consequences? They were still only proposals when Greencore decided to close the plant in Mallow, with the then Minister's support. Did she and the officials who advised her just take what Greencore had stated at face value and swallow its lies hook, line and sinker? Greencore and its friends are the ones who have destroyed the economy, the consequences of which the Minister, Deputy Smith, his Government colleagues and the rest of us are having to deal with. Was the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, totally and utterly incompetent, as has been shown in other cases? Was she, as the Minister with responsibility for this successful industry, simply hoodwinked by Greencore? This was a public company before it was sold to failed compulsive gamblers. This is the consequence of selling public companies which are profitable. We all make mistakes and can be duped from time to time. If that is what happened, the then Minister should have the courage to come to the House and admit to the hundreds of former workers now living on the dole that her decision was wrong, rather than hide behind the mythical claim that the European Union was responsible.

Yesterday Deputy Rabbitte compared the last days of this Government to the last days of the Roman Empire. They are more akin to the last days of Al Capone and Owney Madden or Lucky Luciano. That would be a better analogy, given what has emerged time and again in this House-----

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