Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also thank the Minister who is making efforts. One of the problems with C&C, the then Competition Authority and others is that they waltzed in and took over a good company, and they have laid it to waste. This is a hammer blow for Tipperary. I am being told that I should be welcoming them, because it is an ill wind that blows no good and it will blow the jobs to Clonmel. A storm is blowing, however, and the jobs will blow to Scotland because the workforce in Clonmel, as well as Borrisoleigh, have been treated disgustingly over the past number of years under C&C.

I attended the past two AGMs of C&C in Dublin. At the first one, I was not allowed in because my vote was wrong. At the second one, I got in and met management, but I was an embarrassment to them. That is why they let me in. They did not want to answer any questions from anybody, let alone at the AGM. Shareholders have major concerns.

If one walks into any bar in Dublin or around the country, one will see that Orchard Thieves is the new cider that is displacing Bulmers. The real thieves are C&C itself. There is an aggressive campaign to exit Bulmers, Magners and all the others, and we will have a wasted plant in Tipperary as well. That is my worry going into the future.

I would like to be positive if I could but I cannot because there is no meaningful engagement with the Minister, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission or anybody else; they just did this. The same happened with the Barlow family in Clonmel when the Quinn Group bought the radiator plant. They bought with one intention, which was to close it down. This is happening too often in Ireland where multinationals and conglomerates are buying up good indigenous companies and laying them to waste. We must wake up here, smell the coffee and see what is going on under our noses.

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