Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hear what the Deputy is saying. With regard to supports in the labour market, of course, the Government is always open to looking at new and more impactful ways of doing things and looking at international best practice and so on.

With regard to Tara Mines, it is important to be upfront about the scale of the financial pressures on the company. The predicted loss for 2023, when the decision was announced a number of weeks ago that the company was going to move into care and maintenance, was approximately €100 million. That is a huge gap to close. The one factor the Government cannot compensate for is the price of zinc, which is the main factor here. What we can do is support the company somewhat to offset the dramatic increase in the cost of energy which, by the way, is not as dramatic as would have been predicted six months ago. In fact, the cost of energy has come down significantly, but it is still a lot higher than would have been predicted a number of years ago. We can, therefore, do something on energy. There are some limitations in terms of state aid rules and the schemes that exist but certainly, we cannot close that kind of gap. Despite really significant efforts by the trade unions to find ways of improving productivity and reducing cost, about which the management has been very complimentary to me, by the way, and they are very helpful, that conversation needs to continue in the context of finding a viable future for this plant.

All I can say is that the Government will prioritise this issue. I will prioritise this issue and we will continue to speak to the trade unions and management honestly about how far the State can go in the context of the state aid rules we have to operate within.

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