Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The most pressing issue is that the staff of The Authentic Food Company factory in Dundalk are in desperate circumstances in which they are to receive no pay or social welfare payment for the next month. The workers will not receive their P45s for another month. Unless immediate action is taken, they will be left high and dry for the next 30 days as we approach the Christmas period. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection must intervene and put procedures in place to ensure this matter is rectified immediately.

One hundred and eighty people have just lost their jobs. They now face a month without an income and no social welfare to tide them over. How are they going to pay their bills or feed their families in the next 30 days? How does the Minister of State propose to rectify this? This mess was not of the workers' making. How does he propose to rectify it so the workers will not be left for 30 long days without any payment whatsoever?

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