Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It was just over two years ago that BD announced a €62 million investment in the Drogheda plant. At least in terms of its corporate communications, its proposition is that it contemplates 110 redundancies up to March next year and the additional 67 out to the fourth quarter of 2026. That is a long way away, so the case can be cogently made that market conditions can change, which we need to prevail upon BD, along with the need for it to work with the trade unions, the IDA, the Government and, indeed, Opposition TDs to secure as many of these jobs as we can. I do not accept that this is a fait accompli, notwithstanding what the Minister has said about the limitations he has. I appreciate he is seeking to manage expectations, which is the responsible step to take, and that he will take this case to the chief executive in New York next week, but when we look at Drogheda, there is a huge imbalance in our county. There are 23 IDA investments in Dundalk and only nine in Drogheda and the scale of those investments is much smaller, in terms of the job cohorts, in Drogheda than in Dundalk. A lot of work needs to be done on that. BD received investment of €807,000 in training grants from the IDA only last year.

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