Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, for his reply. I note that he issued a statement very quickly on the matter last Thursday night, and I appreciate that. I am pleased to hear the Minister of State confirm that the Minister, Deputy Bruton, is arranging to meet a senior Bose executive who is travelling to Ireland from the USA to discuss the situation. That proposal was put to the public meeting in Carrickmacross last Monday night by Councillor P. J. O’Hanlon. It was endorsed by all of the public representatives present, including Oireachtas Members and other councillors, and by all present. In the meantime, individual members of the workforce have been in contact and no effort is spared to ensure the meeting with the senior manager takes place this week if at all possible. I hope the Minister of State will convey to the Minister, Deputy Bruton, the anxiety I convey to him on behalf of the local community and the workers in Bose that the meeting take place.

From what the Minister of State has outlined, I am aware that the company has indicated it is not open to reversing the decision. That is regrettable. We hope the Minister will make some progress in that respect without ever trying to raise expectations. It would be irresponsible for any of us to do that.

The Minister of State mentioned the closure of the plant in North Carolina. The timeframe for the closure there is next September, whereas the proposed closure date for the Carrickmacross manufacturing facility is April. The closure of the plant is devastating news but the very short timeframe in which it is proposed to cease operations there is further crippling news.

I thank the Minister, Deputy Bruton, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland for meeting Oireachtas Members, including me, last Tuesday. Local authority members for south Monaghan, along with senior council officials, also met with Oireachtas Members in the meantime. They conveyed to us the understandable concerns of the local community. Monaghan County Council is a proactive, progressive council that will do anything within its remit to try to help out in the situation. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of that himself from his geographical location as a neighbouring public representative. We hope every effort will be made by the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and all the relevant officials in the Department and the agencies to try to impart the strong message to Bose that it has had a very successful manufacturing operation in Carrickmacross since 1978 and that it has a very skilled and committed workforce. Currently there are 140 employees, but traditionally, an additional 60 to 80 seasonal employees were also taken on. We are talking about a workforce of 200 in a relatively small town, which is of huge importance.

Over the years the workforce in question adopted and adapted to new work practices. The IDA confirmed to us the other day that this was one of the manufacturing facilities that had been in the lead in rolling out a lean manufacturing process, which has reduced costs for companies and increased productivity. Given all that, everything must be done to try to assist the workers who unfortunately received the devastating news this time last week.

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