Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

The loss of jobs at Aviva Insurance has been a slow motion catastrophe. Some 950 of the company's staff have lost their jobs, while approximately 300 further staff will have their jobs outsourced. Members of staff have been left in limbo for several weeks. The company is one of the largest and most profitable insurers in the State. The job cuts will result in €36 million being taken out of the economy and have the potential to increase the social welfare bill by €20 million. The Government has acted like Pontius Pilate. For several weeks, I have asked repeatedly that it intervene in this scenario which has been ongoing for weeks. Even at this late stage, I ask that it do everything in its power to save as many jobs as possible. Will it make officials of the Department of Finance available to the staff and unions at the company to ensure the costs and business plan of Aviva can be thoroughly analysed and savings made to make the jobs in question viable?

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