Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Troy for raising this issue. It has also been raised with me by Deputy Peter Burke and Senator Gabrielle McFadden.

I was very sorry to hear about the decision announced yesterday by Cameron Industries. These employees in Cameron Willis have played a key role in the company's success over recent years and it is distressing for them now to be losing their jobs. My thoughts are with the workers and their families at this difficult time.

Unfortunately global circumstances in the oil business have meant that orders for the products manufactured in the Longford factory have fallen dramatically, therefore it is solely global commercial pressures that have led to this decision. The company is shedding a significant number of jobs worldwide and it has significant excess capacity.

While manufacturing is expected to cease, it is heartening that 50 high quality jobs will remain at the plant, on research and development projects and other specialist production functions. IDA Ireland, the enterprise agency working with Cameron Willis, will continue to work with the company. I have asked that the other relevant State bodies will work to ensure that the workers concerned will be assisted regarding entitlements and retraining opportunities.

The Deputy has raised the issue of possibly setting up a task force to deal with these redundancies. I do not favour such a course. The staff of the various development agencies will continue to pursue job creation projects as part of their daily work. It has been our experience in the past that when task forces were established in multiple locations following closures, this diluted the effectiveness of the various State bodies and meant they were diverted from their core day-to-day work. Having a multiplicity of new structures is not an effective or efficient mechanism. Experience has shown us that this is definitely the case.

The Government will strive to ensure that new investment and job creation projects will be pursued for Longford. This week's confirmation of the new Centre Parc holiday project in Ballymahon, County Longford, is a great boost for the county.

In the wider context, as a Government, we have put in place strategies for job creation that are starting to bear fruit. Unemployment has now come down to 8% nationally and while the rate in the midlands is slightly higher at 10.7%, that is a terrific improvement on the rate in that region of 19.6% in 2011.

The Government will continue to deliver on its commitments in the new regional action plans for jobs, which are a truly innovative mechanism to deliver job growth. The core objective of the plan is to support the creation of an extra 14,000 jobs across the region through the delivery of 119 collaborative actions focusing on increasing the number of entrepreneur start-ups, developing the capacity of existing enterprises, with further actions targeted at sectors of potential competitive advantage such as manufacturing, tourism, food and energy. I look forward to that process delivering for us and especially in bringing benefits to Longford.

See this speech in context