Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The company stated the obvious when it said the union proposals of themselves would not be sufficient to stave off the scale and quantum of layoffs it is considering at the moment. The assumption always was, based on comments made, for example, by the Taoiseach in this House in recent weeks, that an energy package would be worked on to try to provide some support to the organisation and we await that. If it is a case that the Minister is in discussions and continuing negotiations with the companies and trade unions, I understand why he would not be in a position to disclose the precise nature of the offer of support he has already made, if those offers have been made, at this point.

Mr. Adrian Kane from SIPTU could not have put it clearer this morning. The Minister may have heard him on "Morning Ireland" when he said that a political intervention is required at this stage. In conclusion, I do not believe we would be here at all if the proposition the Labour Party developed in recent years around the introduction of a German-style short-time work scheme based on the Kurzarbeit model was in place to assist companies and workers in organisations experiencing short- to medium-term trading difficulties of this nature.

Last week, the Minister and the Ministers, Deputies Humphreys and Michael McGrath, responded to me by saying that proposition was being considered in the context of a review of the pathways to work strategy. It is all well and good considering it. This is a proposition that has been considered now for a number of years. It should be an important part of our labour market model and embedded in that model to make the kinds of interventions that I believe could stave off the kind of proposition Boliden is considering at the moment.

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