Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Wavin Ireland has been an IDA Ireland client company for more than 60 years. My Department received a notification of collective redundancy from the company last Friday, 5 July, confirming its intention to reduce its workforce by some 50 positions by the end of the year due to the transfer of manufacturing functions to its facility in the UK. As always, the primary concern, in the House and in my Department, is for the staff and their families who will be impacted by this decision. The Government and our agencies will be on hand to support those individuals as they seek alternative employment.

Employees were notified of the redundancies on 1 July, with the statutory consultation period also beginning on that date. The company has advised that impacted employees are members of either SIPTU or Connect trade unions. Negotiations will be facilitated by their shop stewards. IDA Ireland has reached out to Wavin Ireland management to offer support to all involved.

In respect of job creation in the Balbriggan area, IDA Ireland's Dublin regional office continues to work closely with Fingal County Council to attract employment to Balbriggan. The IDA Ireland regional manager for Dublin is a member of the Balbriggan URBACT local working group. More broadly, the Dublin region continues to perform strongly in respect of IDA Ireland jobs announcements, including recent announcements in the past 12 months by many leading-edge manufacturing and services companies. While certain employment opportunities may not match the skills profiles of some of the workers in Wavin Ireland, the Government will work to ensure reskilling and training opportunities are provided to the workers in the coming weeks and months.

In terms of wider investment in the area, there has been significant infrastructural investment by IDA Ireland in upgrading Swords Business Park. We will work closely with Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to attract good investment into the area. The pipeline is very strong. IDA Ireland has exceeded its target for the Dublin region and is working on its next five-year plan. It is similar with Enterprise Ireland and its targets for export growth. There are some very exciting export companies setting up in the Deputy's constituency. The UK market grew by more than 10% last year in the aftermath of Brexit. That is a significant achievement by those companies. We work closely with the State agencies to support the companies. All the efforts of the State are being put into reskilling, which is the most important element in the budgetary context as we look at the national training fund and other helpful measures.

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