Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Protecting jobs and supporting businesses is a particularly relevant in the midlands and, specifically, my constituency of Laois-Offaly, which has been very hard hit by threats to employment. These include the just transition process and its dire impact on employment at Bord na Móna and, most recently, the threats to the forestry and tree-felling sectors. All these problems were systemic in my constituency before the Covid emergency. They have affected long term employees and seasonal workers alike. I have been contacted by key local employers, saw mills and businesses that support hundreds if not thousands of jobs, directly and indirectly. They are shocked at the chaos and dysfunction that continues to obtain in the context of licensing in the forestry sector. I call on the Government to ensure that this matter is resolved as soon as possible. Sawmills, farmers and others are seeing large numbers of appeals being submitted under the ecology heading and this is destabilising potential jobs. This cannot continue and must be resolved urgently to protect up to 12,000 jobs in the forestry sector.

Following the publication of the first interim report of the just transition commissioner, I supported the view that a range of measures were needed to ensure ongoing job creation and job retention in the midlands. The commissioner made it very clear that an immediate sense of urgency was needed around developing the employment potential of the midlands, and counties such as Offaly and Laois in particular. Has that sense of urgency been maintained now that the focus is off the just transition process? I highlight these issues because they speak to major deficits in the comprehensive job protection strategy. On one hand, we are here talking about the most recent Government moves to protect and support jobs while, on the other, we must accept that thousands of jobs, particularly in the midlands, are under serious threat from the Government's handling, or failure to handle, of its response to certain sectors. These jobs are also under threat because the Government has taken a very specific policy direction in what it is willing to prioritise. For example, it is not willing to prioritise the peat sector in the midlands because it has prioritised the pursuit of a so-called just transition process which has not instilled any confidence that it can create high levels of job growth. The impact of the process is questionable in that regard. Ecological concerns and the imposition of regulatory directives from Europe on the forestry sector are prioritised, regardless of how they undermine the sector's very existence.

We need to protect SMEs including those in the hospitality, hotel and tourism sector, as well as jobs in entertainment and arts. It is clear from the many emails and phone calls we receive from desperately concerned local businesses and those in entertainment and the arts that these sectors must be prioritised and receive and their problems be given an urgent response. We must hold structured dialogue with the key stakeholders to allow them to advocate across Government to ensure that the needs of SMEs are taken into account. We must support new projects and businesses and help them get off the ground. The Banagher Chilling project needs support from the Government and from Laois-Offaly Deputies. It has been held up by unclear guidance from the evaluation committee of the immigrant investor programme.

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