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

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I share their concern for the workers involved. This is a disappointment for many people.

I have known this company intimately over a long period. It set up in Dublin in 1932 and, therefore, it has been here a long time. At any given time, we work with companies that are developing opportunities to grow and, sadly, with companies, including Cadbury, that are struggling with issues they have to overcome. We put a great deal of time and effort into working with Cadbury in the hope that this could be avoided. I spoke directly to those at the highest level in the company seeking to have this not occur but, unfortunately, the cost difference was such that it felt obliged to proceed with this. Nonetheless, as we outlined in our meeting with the Deputies earlier, the company is committing to an investment of €11.7 million in the site. It believes that it has a strong future in Dublin and it is putting hard money into that. Clearly, we will work with the company in seeking to deliver sites in Coolock and Rathmore that can be successful and grow into the future. It is worth recalling that in the Bausch + Lomb case, we faced similar downsizing and restructuring of terms and conditions and so on but the company is now growing and adding employment. It is my hope that this will be repeated in this case.

I assure the Deputies that I have instructed EI to do the co-ordination work across all the State agencies, including the Department of Social Protection, SOLAS, local enterprise offices, NERA and all the other services that could be of support to workers in this scenario.

A number of Deputies raised the issue of the transfer of undertakings legislation, which provides a guarantee that where an employer changes, that cannot in itself change the terms and conditions of employees. At the point of transfer, their terms and conditions are protected but that does not prevent a restructuring arrangement taking place in those circumstances.

The company is entering negotiations with trade unions. It has a history of offering reasonable terms in these circumstances but, clearly, this is a matter for the company and the trade unions to negotiate. The challenge for us is to work through this and to protect as many quality jobs in the plant as we can such that it will have the capacity to expand and be competitive in the longer term. It is a tough and competitive world and Deputy Finian McGrath is correct that investment in research and development, innovation and lean technology processes is crucial to maintaining strong manufacturing sectors and we stand ready to support the investment in those areas. Clearly we cannot offer capital support in Coolock.

We will not only look to source jobs in Coolock, Tallaght and Rathmore. We are focused on finding alternative employment and that remains our abiding drive. In Dublin, we have had considerable success. A total of 35,000 people in net terms have returned to work over the past four years and we are witnessing a recovery in manufacturing following almost 25 years of decline. There are issues we need to work through and I assure the Deputies that the support of State agencies will be available to the workers affected. We will work with the company and the workers who are retained to ensure they have strong and sustainable employment prospects when this process is through.

See this speech in context