Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The union SIPTU has brought to our attention a notice of strike action at Zenith Energy Bantry Bay Terminal Limited. That strike is to take place on Tuesday, 13 December. The Whiddy Island terminal has 17 oil storage tanks with a capacity of almost 9 million barrels and stores a significant portion of the State's oil reserves. It is a key reference site nationally. The National Oil Reserve Agency, NORA, is the State body with responsibility for maintaining our strategic supplies of oil and is one of the Whiddy terminal's largest customers. Whiddy Island was originally built in the late 1960s by Gulf Oil to accommodate ultra large crude oil-carrying vessels. We all remember the tragic accident where 51 people died in January 1979 when the oil tanker Betelgeuseexploded.

In July 2001, the business and commercial assets of the Irish National Petroleum Corporation, INPC, were sold to Tosco corporation, now Conoco Phillips, and NORA did not form part of that transaction. Tosco was later acquired by Phillips 66. NORA was established as an independent statutory body in 2007 upon the introduction of the National Oil Reserves Agency Act. The Whiddy terminal was then sold to Zenith in 2015. In 2020, there were reports that Zenith intended to sell the strategic facility. At the time up to 50 staff were employed at the facility in January 2020, but no sale occurred.

I will quote directly from the statement issued by SIPTU. Willie Noone, the sector organiser, stated:

A ballot for strike action was supported unanimously by our members and is scheduled to commence at 8.00 a.m. on Tuesday, 13th December. This action results from the decision of the company [Zenith] to dismiss workers with long service on Wednesday, 30th November, while planning to employ contractors on an ongoing basis to do their work.

The union, and the workers to their credit, see this as a last resort. The company is seeking compulsory redundancies. Efforts by the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, to resolve the dispute were unsuccessful as the company remains insistent that contractors be used to cover the work previously done by the workers being made redundant.

I am asking for the Government to intervene on the basis that Zenith is housed within a key reference site that ensures the security of energy supply of the State. I call on the Government to intervene now with Zenith to at least bring the company to a hearing of the Labour Court so that the matter might be resolved. No company on this island should seek to drive a coach and four through the industrial relations architecture that has been built up successfully over years, particularly at a time security of energy supply is so vital and particularly given that these people have a combined service of more than 100 years. We want to get them back to the table. I call on the Minister of State to use her good offices and those of the Government to intervene on this matter to encourage people back to the table.

See this speech in context