Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The way that the workers at Tara Mines have been treated is utterly disgraceful. They found out that they are to be temporarily - they do not know for how long - laid off yesterday. Some of them found out through watching the Nine O'Clock News that, effectively, they will be left without pay.

The company says it is due to a variety of factors in terms of zinc prices, inflation, energy costs etc. The company does not mention the fact that when there were previously high prices for zinc, Tara Mines was operating extremely profitably. In 2021, it recorded pre-tax profits, specifically from Tara Mines, of €19.75 million. In 2022, extra dividends were paid out to the shareholders of the overall company as a result of the very big profits that are being made.

If the company wants to shutdown temporarily for a period of time, it should not take the workers off the payroll. It should continue paying the workers. That is a cost that the company should continue to bear.

It is scandalous. These workers are left with no knowledge. The guy who was on the radio this morning, on "Morning Ireland", could not say if this was for weeks, for months, or for a year or longer. That is a horrendous situation to leave workers in. It is completely unacceptable. Will the Government be saying to the company that it needs to put these workers back on the payroll and if it does not do so the Government will consider nationalising the company because these sort of natural resources should be in public ownership? Zinc can be an important part of a just transition. It can be used as an alternative to lithium for electric batteries. The Government should be acting to defend the jobs.

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