Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

The decision on the part of Greencore to close the plant in Mallow was a massive blow to local farmers, the employees at the plant and the wider community. Greencore refused to make redundancy payments to the employees and developed a plan to build, on the site of the plant, what would ostensibly have been satellite town adjacent to Mallow. It was as a result of what it proposed in this regard that the company closed the factory.

When Greencore exited the industry in 2006 and closed the plant, there was a great deal of discussion regarding the establishment of another industry on the site. It was suggested that instead of producing sugar, the plant would be used to process a different product from sugar beet. There has been a great deal of discussion on local radio and elsewhere today with regard to the possibility of establishing another industry at the site. Is there any truth to what has been stated in this regard? Does such a possibility exist?

There is a great deal of misinformation abroad with regard to what happened and what decisions were taken during the discussions which took place at European Commission level prior to the negotiations to which the Minister referred. The Minister stated clearly the decisions which were taken and the information which was put on the record of the Commission by the Tánaiste and her officials. It will be very helpful for everyone to have the information about the arguments which were put to try to ensure Ireland continued to produce sugar on a long-term basis. Based on what the auditors came out with in recent days, irrespective of where we are, if the correct information had been available, would it have made a substantial difference to the decision to cease production of sugar in Ireland and wipe out an industry which had been of major benefits to communities in north Cork, Carlow and elsewhere over the years?

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