Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Clearly the best outcome in all of these situations is to find a buyer and maintain and support jobs in the business, or as many of those jobs as is possible. That must be a factor in dealing with such situations. The legislation exists to allow receivers or examiners to seek new buyers and to find a way of making a settlement with creditors in cases of examinership and to find a way for those parts of a business that can be saved to remain viable. Clearly, that is an element of that and those in charge of a company need access to the resources of the company to seek that outcome.

The Deputy suggests the State should intervene to keep these companies going but the sad truth is that 300,000 jobs have been lost across many sectors in the four years before we entered government. The chances of the State being able to intervene in so many businesses that were getting into difficulty would not be viable. We must find sectors that are sustainable in the long term. Sectors like construction became too big, as did some parts of the retail sector, and we cannot continue to support them. Under pressure of reduced resources, we must find the sectors that will give us sustainable employment. That must be our strategy.

Strong labour laws exist to protect people. The workers of other companies that closed in such circumstances, like La Senza, have been paid by the insolvency fund so the system has protected and paid workers in those situations.

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