Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I am grateful for the opportunity of raising this issue which, because of the length of our summer recess, has lost some of its immediacy but has lost none of its importance. I am further grateful that my constituency colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, has chosen to respond to this issue. I know he shares my concerns, not only as a Minister, but also as a constituency Deputy, about what will happen from here. That is the motivation for my having raised this issue today.

We need to address the loss of 146 jobs at the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, ADM, in Ringaskiddy and the replacement of gainful, long-term employment for those concerned. There are ongoing difficulties that need to be examined in a wider context and I am prepared to debate them at another time but I do not think there will be any disagreement between the Minister and myself as regards to a necessary response to this set of workers.

I would like the Minister to respond concerning the amount of foreknowledge that might have been available to his Department and other State agencies concerning forthcoming difficulties that may provide workers in such situations with a better sense of preparedness. As a constituency colleague, the Minister will be aware of industrial difficulties that existed in the recent past that resulted in a lock-out of workers in this particular factory. The management cited economic difficulties and the need to change the cost structure, which in itself was a warning sign.

As a Green Party Deputy, I am quite prepared to acknowledge the degree of environmental difficulties, although I do not believe they are linked to the commercial or economic difficulties, but were themselves another signal that there were wider problems with the company concerned. In order to avoid similar circumstances arising in future, I would like to know what kind of early-warning systems exist. How do the Minister's Department and State agencies respond to such warning signals? How can workers who might find themselves in such a situation be given sufficient advance notice in order to find alternative employment? I suspect the Minister will reply by citing his other efforts, which I welcome, including the new positions that will be found in the Centocor factory and the opening of the Recordati factory in the next few weeks.

I am not making the argument about additional jobs, however. We are talking about a specific set of people who have worked for ADM which is not a pharmaceutical company per se, but a food additive one. It was established as part of a wider facility that was Pfizer's and then became Archer-Daniels-Midland. Therefore, something that had been part of a wider whole, became a separate entity but has now ceased to exist.

Two issues need to be addressed by the Minister and his Department: first, the 146 people who have lost their employment and, second, the existence of an industrial installation in that area that could be put to alternative use. There is a history in Cork South-Central of working collectively to address those issues. I am grateful the Minister has attended the House to outline how we as constituency Deputies, including himself as the Government Minister responsible, can respond to this issue.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I accept the spirit in which he has raised it for debate.

Unfortunately, the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, or ADM, announced the closure of its facility at Ringaskiddy with the loss of 146 jobs on 14 September 2005. This is a major blow to the workers and their families. I want to reassure the House, as I did on that occasion, that every effort will be made via the State agencies to respond to their needs and secure alternative employment for those workers.

The redundancies will take place from October 2005 to January 2006. The company has cited what it terms "non-viability of the business" as the reason for the plant closure. We were not informed about the actual closure until the day of the announcement. I will give some of the background issues later as to how the IDA was dealing with the company on an ongoing basis.

Following our instructions I met with FÁS personnel. FÁS met with senior managers of ADM Ringaskiddy and all staff will be registered with FÁS. The full range of FÁS services will be offered to the staff. Indeed, FÁS has already met with some ADM workers and there has been a good deal of interest in pursuing the courses on offer.

ADM in Ringaskiddy manufactures citric acid, sodium citrate, potassium citrate, gluconic acid and other products for the food industry. The biggest single product is citric acid, which is an ingredient in soft drinks. The business and site was acquired from Pfizer in 1990. Employment at the time of the closure announcement earlier this month was 150 people.

It gives me no satisfaction to have to say the site in Cork has had a turbulent recent past. As an essentially commodity-based business there has been increasing cost pressures on production facilities. In early 2003, I understand that suggested changes on the site were rejected locally. The company then closed the site and there were many disputes at the time. I met the workers concerned. The company then conducted a fundamental review of the viability of future operations at Ringaskiddy. The plant remained closed for more than five months while the review was undertaken and subsequent negotiations with SIPTU were completed. At that time 180 people were employed and 70 of those availed of a severance deal. A new package of conditions was agreed.

ADM Ringaskiddy is a client company of IDA Ireland and the agency maintained contact with the local and parent companies throughout the difficulties in 2003. As I mentioned, the business in Cork is commodities-based and there was concern over the company's medium-term future in manufacturing, particularly with the bulk of the world's citric acid being sourced in China. In particular, meetings were held between IDA and the company in early 2004 to discuss additional responsibilities for the Cork operation.

ADM has grown substantially in Europe over the past 15 years by acquisition. The European headquarters has at various times in the recent past been in the Netherlands and London before moving to its current site in Hamburg. The company generally operates a divisionalised and decentralised structure in Europe. However, ADM is in the final stages of implementing a standard IT platform for its financial affairs. The Irish company spotted an opportunity to take control of the European treasury function for all ADM businesses early last year. Treasury activities are controlled from Cork but with the bulk of the transactions outsourced. The company is undertaking a major overhaul of its banking relationships and arrangements throughout Europe. This is the only function that will remain in operation in Cork but only four people will be employed.

IDA Ireland has recently met company representatives to discuss ways and initiatives in marketing the existing facility and lands as an option for potential foreign direct investment. The industrial development agencies will be making every effort to secure alternative employment for the area. Over the past 11 years direct employment in IDA-supported companies in Cork city and county has grown from 10,345 in 1993 to 18,648 in 2004. The sectors contributing to this growth are ICT, pharmaceuticals and medical technologies, and international services. Over the past five years IDA Ireland has approved new projects for the Cork area with a job potential of up to 5,000 people at full operation. This growth is expected to continue into the future. There are currently 137 IDA supported enterprises in Cork city and county.

In July 2005, Pfizer Incorporated, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, announced it is to invest €20 million to establish a high containment development facility at Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Ringaskiddy, County Cork. In July 2004, Centocor, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, announced plans to construct a new biopharmaceutical centre of excellence at Ringaskiddy. The project, regarded as a key strategic biopharmaceutical investment, will employ an estimated 330 people over five years. This follows the announcement in 2003 of investments by Italian pharmaceutical company Recordati and GlaxoSmithKline in new research and development activities in Ringaskiddy. We would hope that some of the workers from ADM could be recruited to these new enterprises. FÁS will endeavour to use its placement service with this in mind and will retrain people for the biopharmaceutical sector.

Other recent new project announcements in Cork include Ellison, Engenio, McAfee, AK Pharmaceuticals, Altera, Ecora and Centocor, which will all add to the value and depth of overseas industry in Cork. Enterprise Ireland will continue to do what it can to increase employment in the area. Since January 2004 Enterprise Ireland has approved funding to client companies totalling €18.9 million. I assure the Deputy that the State development agencies, under the auspices of my Department, will continue to work closely together and with local interests in promoting Ringaskiddy for further job creation and investment.

The Department has an early warning system and generally companies alert IDA Ireland which then alerts me or my officials regarding potential difficulties. While there would have been overall concern over the medium-term prospects, this matter did not feature on such a system until I got it on the day.