Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak to this urgent and important debate on the need for a more proactive interagency support in respect of the Cadbury chocolate factory in Coolock. My objective today is to ensure that everything possible is done to prevent future job losses at this plant. Last Friday, I met representatives of the excellent staff at a meeting in Liberty Hall. It shocked me to hear the Minister talk a few days earlier about the Government developing an early warning system that would highlight any threat to jobs.

People need to wake up and they need to walk the walk on this issue. We need to listen to all of the staff, the electricians, the clerical and the general staff when they express their major concerns and that is what this debate is about today. The electricians are very worried at this moment about their jobs and about the issue of due pay and there is a question of industrial action coming up on the agenda next Monday. The bottom line is that staff want an independent financial expert to deal with this issue. The intergovernmental agencies have said they would like to meet the staff on 6 May but that, for many of the staff, is too short a timespan. They want to get the figures for the Coolock plant and they have suggested an independent financial person they can trust, but the company would not accept the name they put forward.

In recent years Coolock has lost a lot of tonnage and jobs. In 2010, the plant lost 90 jobs in a restructuring programme which was to bring tonnage to the site and make the remaining jobs on the site more secure. The increased tonnage never materialised and it continues to lose jobs and tonnes from the site. In October 2012, it lost the bean processing plant with the associated tonnage and another 24 jobs and, as recently as September 2014, it lost another 35 jobs from the site. I will raise the other issues as the debate develops.

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