Dáil debates

Tuesday, 28 March 2006

10:00 pm

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to raise an important matter on the Adjournment, namely the jobs crisis in Ballina, County Mayo, where the unemployment rate at 11% is twice the national average, and where 1,000 jobs have been lost in the past nine years, with the closure of Asahi, Heneghans, Oasis and other factories, as well as the loss of spin-off industries.

The fact that the IDA still has no site, premises or business park to market, sell or exhibit to potential investors is a terrible scandal and a mark of the its failure to deliver. We have lost 1,340 jobs in the past nine years and have created only 400 in replacement, a net loss of nearly 1,000 jobs. We have been dealt a mortal blow and the IDA seems incapable of delivering what we need.

There has not been one week in the Dáil in recent times when I have not brought up the neglect of the Ballina and north Mayo area and the need for infrastructure in the BMW region. The Government has failed miserably to act. No town can sustain the loss of 1,000 jobs in nine years. Something must be done. The IDA and Enterprise Ireland must work harder for north Mayo. Ballina is now an unemployment blackspot and needs urgent attention from Government. The time for talk is long past — we need action. Neither the Government nor the IDA has any excuse.

Having had discussions with the IDA and with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I am as convinced as they that the problems boil down to a lack of infrastructure. The IDA has told me it has great difficulty securing jobs in north Mayo. It states that manufacturers want to go to an area such as Dublin, yet Dublin still receives IDA grants despite already being overpopulated. We need those jobs in Mayo but our people must leave the area to get employment.

The IDA also states that manufacturers need larger centres with the scale, infrastructure and services capable of sustaining their investment. That is why we need roads and rail links such as the western rail corridor. We need broadband and technology parks — all the things that will give us a level playing field and balanced regional development. The west is not a competitive area because we do not have such infrastructure. Industrialists and the IDA complain bitterly that, for example, the poor state of the N5 militates against an industrialist settling in Mayo. We have long been promised the 27-acre industrial park on the Sligo road to Ballina and we can do very little without it. It needs to be fast tracked and I ask the Minister personally to intervene. We need the N26 Ballina-Bohola bypass and the Government must put pressure on the NRA to ensure this essential infrastructure is delivered. I again ask the Minister to intervene.

The fundamental problem is the failure of Government to provide balanced regional development and the necessary infrastructure. With €3.9 billion NDP underspend, is it any wonder we are not a competitive area for industry to locate? A surplus of €2 billion has already been generated in the first two months of 2006. Why can this money not be put toward providing us with the infrastructure we need? The national development plan has not been fulfilled and the national spatial strategy has not been implemented. Ballina is a hub town which is crying out for support from Government. The time for talking has passed and now is the time for action.

The numbers on the live register in Ballina exceed those for the whole county of Roscommon, which speaks for itself. People talk about development for Mayo and the Government has paid much lip service recently on the need to develop Mayo and the work it is doing. As an example, it wants to bring ashore gas from the Corrib field but when did the Government last see the state of the Castlebar to Belmullet road? It is a dangerous dirt track, yet in one spot where peat is brought from one end of a bog to another there is a virtual highway built for Shell. I wish the Government would give the same commitment to the people of Mayo as to Shell. It is a pity that the commitment and generosity shown to Shell does not spill over for the long-suffering people of Ballina and north Mayo. I ask the Minister personally to intervene to ensure that the IDA and Enterprise Ireland work harder to ensure that the Ballina technology park becomes a reality, that adequate broadband technology is rolled out and that the NRA will fast track the N26 Ballina-Bohola bypass to give us a future. It is our right as citizens. At a time when the Government is boasting about full employment, it is a clear indication of their lack of commitment to Ballina that a town should have such a high unemployment rate. I urge action now.

Photo of Tony KilleenTony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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As I said on the Adjournment some weeks ago, I am very concerned that Oasis in Ballina has decided to reduce its workforce to approximately 12 people within a period of two months. I am very conscious of the effect these job losses will have on the workers involved and their families, as weIl as the community in the surrounding area. I wish to assure the people concerned that the State agencies will provide every support they can.

The priority will be to find alternative employment for those involved at the earliest possible opportunity. The industrial development agencies will be making every effort to secure alternative investment and employment for Ballina and north Mayo. A central goal for the agencies is the achievement of balanced regional development. The national spatial strategy provides a framework for achievement of this goal through the prioritisation of development and investment in the gateway and hub locations.

IDA Ireland recognises the need to provide high-value employment opportunities in Mayo, including Ballina, which provide sustainable long-term jobs. On this basis, IDA Ireland seeks to attract foreign direct investment into the linked hub of Ballina and Castlebar, as well as a small number of additional locations throughout County Mayo. The agency is actively promoting Ballina for new foreign investment, as well as working with the existing base of overseas companies in Ballina to encourage them to grow and expand. Since January 2003, there have been five first-time site visits to Ballina. IDA Ireland's sectoral emphasis is on attracting new knowledge-intensive projects in the medical technologies, life sciences, information communications and technology and international services sectors.

The agency is investing significantly in the provision of planned and focused property solutions. Specifically, IDA Ireland is developing world-class business and technology parks at a number of towns throughout County Mayo. The goal is to ensure that these locations have the appropriate property solutions, tailored to specific key sectoral targets, to attract inward investments. This also means undertaking long-term planning with the local authority so that the area is seen by investors as having the appropriate locational solutions, such as property, infrastructure, business and lifestyle services etc. for key strategic investments of national importance. IDA has been in discussions with Mayo County Council regarding the acquisition of a site in local authority ownership in Ballina and the agency informs me that it is awaiting contract documentation and copy of unburdened title from the council.

The activity of Enterprise Ireland is focused on the creation of new jobs through supporting entrepreneurs setting up new high potential start-up companies, the retention and creation of new jobs in existing companies and in enhancing the innovation capability of Irish companies at a national and regional level. Enterprise Ireland provides preferential funding for companies with detailed export plans which are expanding or establishing a business in County Mayo. Enterprise Ireland has approved funding support of almost €1 million to client companies in the Ballina-Killala area in the period 2003 to 2005. A new Enterprise Ireland-supported high potential start-up company, Heatsolve Limited, commenced operations in Ballina last year. Enterprise Ireland has committed funding of over €750,000 to IRD North Mayo-West Sligo Limited for the development of enterprise space in Ballina, which centre the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, officially opened during his visit to Ballina last January. According to provisional figures from the Forfás employment survey 2005, the total number of people employed in Enterprise lreland client companies in County Mayo in 2005 was 3,054, an increase of 468 on the number employed ten years earlier. In the past 12 months a number of new businesses have been set up in the Castlebar area, all in the retail sector, creating approximately 150-200 jobs.

The role of FÁS is of particular importance in assisting those who are to lose their jobs. FÁS made contact with the company immediately after the closure was announced and the agency has indicated that the full range of its services will be made available to employees if they wish to avail of them. Specifically FÁS provides a range of programmes to assist jobseekers to improve their skills and obtain employment. These include specific skills training in a range of areas. Bridging foundation training is provided for those requiring additional assistance while the one step up programme, introduced last year, provides placement and career guidance services. There are special programmes for the long-term unemployed and a variety of courses available through FÁS e-coIlege. FÁS labour market activities provide experience and development through programmes such as community employment and job initiative schemes, job clubs, workplace and special services for those with disabilities or for early school leavers.

In addition, FÁS provides integrated redundancy support services and is working to extend these to all workers made redundant. The process typically involves agreement with the company on responsibilities and actions, intensive interviews with affected workers, preparation of a skills analysis report based on identified workers' needs and local opportunities and referral of redundant workers to jobs, training courses or other options, including customised courses where necessary. On-going support is provided to keep redundant workers in touch with the labour market. Progress is being made in prioritising expenditure under the national development plan in the BMW region and the indications are that the under-spend on a number of key infrastructure measures under both the economic and social infrastructure operation programme and the BMW regional operational programme is being addressed.

Evidence suggests good progress is being made in achieving the objectives of the current national development plan in the west region. Data published by the CSO indicates that the levels of total income per person in the west region increased from €14,420 to €18,487 between the years 1999 and 2002. This is an increase from 89.1% to 90.3% of the average State level over those years.

I am confident that the State development agencies will strengthen their marketing and promotion efforts in Ballina and north Mayo and will make every effort to secure alternative employment for the area. This will be done in partnership with other key players to maximise the flow of potential investors for the area and to convert these into investment and job opportunities for both Ballina and County Mayo in general.