Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

This closure comes on the back of job losses in Intellicom, Grant's, Supervalu in Tipperary town, the Fairgreen supermarket in Carrick-on-Suir and Supervalu in Clonmel. The Government has forgotten Tipperary. Like the Minister earlier this afternoon, the Taoiseach has washed his hands of the situation in Borrisoleigh.

The number of unemployed in Tipperary, 13,000, is significantly higher than the national average. The rate is probably 13%. We have lost a net 321 IDA Ireland jobs in the past three years. Disposable income in Tipperary is 5% lower than the national average. The Government has deliberately excluded every town in Tipperary from IDA Ireland's programme of building advance factories and offices.

I ask the Taoiseach again whether he will intervene to save the jobs. This is a totally unnecessary closure. Will he reverse the decision, which is a deliberate snub to Tipperary and deliberate discrimination against towns in the county? Every town in Tipperary has been excluded from IDA Ireland's proposal to build advance factories and advance offices. The Government took this decision. Will it reverse it now and ensure Borrisoleigh gets an advance factory?

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