Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Carey and Bruton. It is good to see the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, in the Chamber taking questions. I congratulate him on his new portfolio.

The past number of months have been extremely difficult for everyone in this country but there are certain industries and sectors that have been disproportionately hit. At the moment there are 5,809 people on the live register in County Clare and a further 12,000 people in receipt of Covid income supports. The live register figures are alarmingly higher than the figures for this time last year, with in the region of 1,200 additional people unemployed in our county. That is a real testament to the economic ravages of Covid-19.

I would like to raise a number of pertinent topical issues in the Chamber this evening. Last year the High Court ordered that Avara Pharmaceutical Services in Shannon be wound down after it emerged that it had annual losses in the region of €9.5 million and was insolvent. The plant when fully operational employed 115 people but many of these have been made redundant over the past few months and now only a skeletal staff remains on site. Avara was once owned by UCB Pharma SA, a French company. As part of its corporate social responsibility, that company has offered to make a redundancy payment to its former employees on top of the payment being offered by Avara. This is unprecedented. I looked but could not find any examples of former company owners wanting to pay more out of a sense of social responsibility. The offer is being examined by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation but has been delayed. A spurt is needed so that those who are losing jobs and incomes can get the money owed to them. The IDA is engaged in talks to find a buyer for the Avara site and I would like to hear how those talks are progressing. I believe a Swiss company was interested at one point and I would love to hear where that is going because it has the potential to breathe new certainty and confidence into the Shannon area.

The events and live entertainment industry has been heavily lobbying all Deputies in recent days. Nationally this sector employs 35,000 people and includes theatres, clubs, festivals, musicians, comedians and many other performers and people involved in the cultural sector. It is worth €3.5 billion annually to the economy. On the basis that arts and entertainment may not return to normal operations for many months to come, I hope the Government will consider various supports to help workers and the industry overall to be resilient and to financially survive the current crisis.

Earlier this week I received some positive clarification from my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, concerning a fund of €2.6 million that his Department has made available to keep key Shannon Heritage sites in the mid-west open over the autumn and winter months. I found out that this money will be ring-fenced for Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and King John's Castle and will not be spent, as many had feared, on sites that the group also owns in Dublin. Job losses at Shannon Heritage were averted by this injection of capital but it is important when we get to the end of 2020 that the Government looks at ways of priming that unit with more money so that job losses are avoided and the sites remain open in the new year.

The aviation task force does not fall under the Minister of State's brief but it is essential to jobs in the mid-west. Many elements have been adopted and enacted, and I was very pleased to see that due to the mid-term plan the Government announced yesterday, there is a real prospect of aeroplanes returning to the skies and people flying once more.

There is one key element, which is priming the airports and the sector with money. That has not happened yet and it has to happen to ensure they do not become insolvent. Last week, employees directly employed at the airport by Shannon Group had to take a 20% pay cut without a ballot or without what I would consider normal procedures being followed, and the matter is in dispute. I want to mention that in the Chamber because it was a real hammer blow to people who have worked in the airport for a long time, although it is not something the Government can intervene in when the dispute is ongoing. We certainly need a sector primed with money.

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