Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I also raise the issue of Tara mines. Tomorrow, representatives of SIPTU, Connect and Unite will be in the AV Room at 2 p.m. I encourage all Deputies to attend and ask the Taoiseach to spend time listening to the union representatives tomorrow. Workers will gather at the gates of Leinster House to protest the manner in which they have been treated. I encourage the people of Meath to stand in solidarity and swell their numbers so that we can have a very strong voice outside the gates here tomorrow on what is happening to those workers and their incomes - they are being pushed off an income cliff – and also what is happening to the economy and society in County Meath with the loss of these jobs.

The workers have been treated disastrously by Boliden in my view. The company is extracting Irish ore and paying very little corporation tax or royalties. It has experienced the loyalty of these workers and it is showing very little loyalty back. The Government itself is doing very little to reduce the cost of electricity which is a significant impediment to getting that business back on a sustainable level. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has promised to provide an income support to step down if people are made redundant or laid off yet it is not being done on this occasion when it is needed. It was done in relation to the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and I ask that the Taoiseach see that it is done in emergency legislation to help these workers now.

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