James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very disappointed with the Minister's response. The only thing I will credit the Minister with is her commitment to working with her Oireachtas colleagues and I look forward to meeting her later this evening at the meeting with Members of the Oireachtas from County Kildare.

Apart from that, I cannot find much else to welcome in the Minister's statement. There are no specifics about the support package. There is no commitment to a support package and I do not know what is available in terms of social protection, training and reskilling. We need contact points and dedicated personnel assigned to that. There is no mitigation plan in place. HP Inc. is unfortunate to be the receiver of bad news today. The Minister has mentioned other factors, such as President Trump and Brexit, which do not affect HP Inc. but they might affect other firms. What mitigation or crisis management plan is in place for the future? We had the issue with Intel a year ago, the announcement about HP Inc. today and it might be some other company this year or next year. Is any kind of plan being put together? We need this fast.

I hate to say this but the last time the Minister visited County Kildare she invited members of the council to a photograph opportunity. The time for photograph opportunities is gone. It is time for action.

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