Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

As the Deputy is aware, I held a series of meetings with company management, workers, public representatives and business following the TalkTalk closure announcement. The message from local stakeholders was clear, in that County Waterford had not benefited from advances in the good times and had been badly affected in the more difficult times of late. On foot of that I instructed my agencies to put together an action plan for the south-east region to assess its strengths and weaknesses, identify sectoral opportunities, carry out an audit of activities and structures of the agencies and assess the scope for collaborative initiatives with local bodies.

It is clear that the region, despite all of its strengths, has not been as successful as we would all want. Job losses and unemployment levels are above average. Both short-term and long-term action is necessary.

The agencies have reported back and I am considering their responses with a view to introducing actions to address the specific employment problems affecting the south east. This approach is more appropriate than establishing a task force, given the timeframe of the site closure, the need for swift action and the fact that a large amount of analysis has been undertaken in the past.

I am determined to give Waterford the priority it correctly deserves. We need to take a hard look at this to see how we can better support enterprise in the south east and set out the actions we can take in the near and longer terms. As the various reports from the State agencies include commercially sensitive information, I will not be able to publish them as received. However, it is my intention to make known the additional activities and plans for enterprise support in the near future.

I acknowledge the support of Cabinet colleagues, in particular the Ministers for Social Protection and Education and Skills who responded immediately. FÁS and the Department of Social Protection's staff immediately engaged with TalkTalk workers. The Minister for Education and Skills indicated that work on the proposal for a technological university, which is to be explored as part of the programme for Government, is being accelerated. Clear criteria will be developed for that opportunity, which arose in discussions.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The Minister for Education and Skills has submitted an application under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, EGAF, to assist workers who lost their jobs.

While it is clear that Ireland is operating in a difficult economic environment, there are still investment opportunities in global markets and the IDA will continue to compete vigorously for projects for Ireland and the south east. In particular, the IDA has begun marketing the TalkTalk facility and the skill sets of the workers internationally.

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