Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept that the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, would not yet have been contacted by the liquidator. Even though they have gone through the consultation period with workers, they have still not reached that point because they are trying to work through a possible rescue of the operation.

Even if a new company is established and even if a new buyer can be found - there is good and hard work going on and the employees and the management of the company are doing an excellent job in trying to assist in that process - there will come a position where employees will be made redundant. They will only get two weeks' statutory redundancy, notwithstanding the amount of time they have worked for this particular operation under various ownerships. The concern I have is that, as recently as 2016, UCB discharged its very significant responsibility for very little money on that site and sailed into the wind. A similar situation happened in the UK, that I have identified, where a company, AstraZeneca, effectively did the same but it was called out by the workers and was made to pay.

All efforts will be made to assist people under the statutory terms and conditions of the legislation as set out but we need a little thinking outside the box here. We need to find a way for UCB to honour its commitments to the workers who will not be fortunate enough, if any are, to have future employment on this facility. I am aware the Minister of State, with his knowledge, has been in contact with the workers as indeed has Deputy Harty. Deputy Carey has been on the site as well, as I have, and has spoken to many of the workers on an ongoing basis. We want to see a future for that facility. We want to see people employed there. In our absolute desire and our requirement to keep employment there, we cannot allow the terms and conditions to be set aside for the workers who will not have employment in any new operation that might be there. We must be mindful of those and their families. They had their hopes and retirements pinned on such sums in the event of having to lose their job and, unfortunately, it is all for nothing now.

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