Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My Department has contacted other relevant agencies to seek a co-ordinated response by State bodies. I know that the Department of Social Protection has already been in touch with the company, with a view to arranging briefing sessions with employees. This will happen in a matter of days. They will be advised on the Intreo process, jobseeker's payments and redundancy entitlements, as well as provided with information on the available schemes in the system. One-to-one consultations can also be arranged with that Department. In addition, I have made sure the National Employment Rights Agency, for which I have responsibility, is available to advise the employees. The local education and training board, the Cavan-Monaghan Education and Training Board, and SOLAS have been asked to assess relevant courses that might be provided for staff, as appropriate.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and share his concerns about Liberty Insurance's recent announcement. The most significant issue of concern for this jurisdiction is the proposed reduction of 150 jobs in Cavan town and also the jobs reduction in Blanchardstown.

This will be a very significant blow to Cavan town. I appreciate that and accept it is a difficult time for all the staff. It is incumbent on the agencies of the State to assist them in every way possible.

Deputy Smith outlined the reasons for the redundancies. The company conducted a strategic review of its businesses and will as a result withdraw from the personal motor insurance market in Great Britain and make significant changes to its operations here in Ireland. The company is now focusing solely on the Republic of Ireland market. I am quite encouraged by its statement that it is fully committed to the country notwithstanding the difficulties around the job losses it announced. These will be voluntary-led redundancies and will not take place immediately but will be phased out over 18 months. Despite this bad news there has been one positive job creation development by that company in Ireland. In 2013 it announced the creation of 150 jobs in an information technology project in its Blanchardstown operation. This project is not affected by the recent announcement.

At the time of the 2011 purchase of Quinn Insurance the commitment given by Liberty as part of the takeover was that the 1,570 in both jurisdictions, North and South, would be transferred under the EU’s protection of employees rights and transfer of undertakings. This did not, does not and never would guarantee that these job levels would be retained indefinitely. Unfortunately, no new employer could be expected to give such a blanket guarantee especially in a volatile and changing market. I know that in his heart of hearts, Deputy Smith would understand that. Our immediate focus rests on the instruction the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, issued to IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to redouble their efforts at job creation in County Cavan and to explore all options to replace the jobs lost there.

The past couple of years have been good in the Cavan-Monaghan area. It is encouraging to see the strong performance of a number of Irish-owned companies in recent times and several of them cross two counties. Companies such as Lakeland, Combilift, Swift Fine Foods and Glanbia have expanded their operations and made a huge contribution to job creation. It is encouraging that in 2014 the IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland job base grew by 9% and that there was an 11% increase in the number of jobs created by the local enterprise office, LEO, in the area, which is a very good performance by any stretch of the imagination. This shows the huge contribution the LEOs are making to the development of small and micro-enterprises in communities up and down the country.

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