Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak to this urgent and important debate on the need for a more proactive interagency support in respect of the Cadbury chocolate factory in Coolock. My objective today is to ensure that everything possible is done to prevent future job losses at this plant. Last Friday, I met representatives of the excellent staff at a meeting in Liberty Hall. It shocked me to hear the Minister talk a few days earlier about the Government developing an early warning system that would highlight any threat to jobs.

People need to wake up and they need to walk the walk on this issue. We need to listen to all of the staff, the electricians, the clerical and the general staff when they express their major concerns and that is what this debate is about today. The electricians are very worried at this moment about their jobs and about the issue of due pay and there is a question of industrial action coming up on the agenda next Monday. The bottom line is that staff want an independent financial expert to deal with this issue. The intergovernmental agencies have said they would like to meet the staff on 6 May but that, for many of the staff, is too short a timespan. They want to get the figures for the Coolock plant and they have suggested an independent financial person they can trust, but the company would not accept the name they put forward.

In recent years Coolock has lost a lot of tonnage and jobs. In 2010, the plant lost 90 jobs in a restructuring programme which was to bring tonnage to the site and make the remaining jobs on the site more secure. The increased tonnage never materialised and it continues to lose jobs and tonnes from the site. In October 2012, it lost the bean processing plant with the associated tonnage and another 24 jobs and, as recently as September 2014, it lost another 35 jobs from the site. I will raise the other issues as the debate develops.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Before I call on the next speaker, Deputy Dessie Ellis wishes with the agreement of the House to defer his topical issue until tomorrow. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Early last month, it was announced by the multinational group Mondelez that 63 jobs would be lost at the Cadbury plant in Coolock as a consequence of the transfer of production of its Time Out bar to Poland. I and other north Dublin Deputies secured a Topical Issue Debate at that time to try to identify how those jobs could be saved or how other job opportunities could be found for the workers affected, all of whom live in north Dublin. We also discussed how the impact of this on the local economy could be mitigated. Cadbury's has been an iconic brand in supporting quality Irish jobs and job losses would badly affect the local community.

At a meeting of the trade unions representing Cadbury's workers last Friday, to which public representatives were invited, I was disappointed to be told that nothing really had happened in the meantime to address the situation. Last month, north Dublin Deputies were informed that an interagency group, including Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, the Department of Social Protection, partnership agencies and local enterprise offices, would be set up as a matter of urgency to deal with the 63 job losses. At the meeting with unions on Friday, we were informed that the employee representatives were not aware of such a body and up to then they had not been contacted by anybody in this regard. At this meeting the Cadbury workers appealed to their Deputies to ensure that everything possible was done to avert the job losses.

The loss of tonnes of production at the Coolock plant is damaging the plant's competitive position compared to other Mondelez sites outside of Ireland and this, they believe, further threatens the viability of the manufacturing unit in Coolock. In 2010, they lost 90 jobs in a restructuring programme. In 2012, they lost 42 jobs when the bean processing plant closed and, as recently as last September, they lost a further 35 jobs from the site in Coolock. We have been told that there is a lack of information being made available to the employees on the viability of the Mondelez operation at Cadbury's in Coolock. The employees need this information so that they can develop a counterproposal to try to save the jobs.

Can the Minister of State tell me what can be done by his Department to minimise the redundancies? Can he outline what retraining and re-skilling options will be made available to the redundant workers? Can he assure me they will receive assistance in accessing similar employment with the skills they have acquired?

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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It is astonishing that the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, is not in the House, since this so deeply affects the constituency of Dublin bay north as well as the other 40 or so constituencies.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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Six weeks ago there was a welcome meeting in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the serious matter of the loss of 160 jobs in Cadbury-Mondelez in Coolock. We heard about an interagency group comprising IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the workforce and their representatives SIPTU, Unite, the TEEU and other trade unions and, crucially, the management. It is astonishing that, as we heard last Friday, none of this has happened. The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, did absolutely nothing for a key facility in his own constituency and the workers and their trade union representatives now have grave concerns over the loss of chocolate tonnage from the Coolock plant which transferred to Poland with the loss of 63 jobs and 2,500 tonnes of product. Incredibly, while Coolock will lose these jobs, Mondelez is recruiting for virtually the same number of workers in Poland and the Coolock plant will now have well below 30,000 tonnes of product in 2015, with the workforce threatened with a reduction to 350 or 360.

The workers and trade unions inform us that Mondelez operates a remote tolling system under its European operating company in Zurich. It is very difficult for the workforce or its representatives to get any information on company turnover and performance in Ireland, Europe or north America.

We are informed that operations at nine US factories have been transferred to Mexico and that the worldwide workforce of Mondelez is being cut by 4,000 but we do not know these facts and the Minister seems to have no interest in finding out the facts about this particular company. This is why the failure of the senior Minister and the agencies to engage with the company and give any supports over the past six weeks has been deeply disturbing.

This valiant workforce needs assistance urgently to maintain this very important and iconic plant. The workforce has requested accounting and economic assistance from Mondelez. I understand Mazars has begun to give some support in this regard to SIPTU. I ask the other three Ministers of State who represent Dublin constituencies to listen to this. One Minister of State represents or is trying to represent Dublin Bay North. The Minister said six weeks ago that Dublin is forbidden from getting direct capital investment. What about other supports such as energy research or taxation for the Coolock operation? It is very disappointing that the Minister is not here. Why is he not here to hear about this very important and urgent matter in his own constituency - one of the most historic factories in this country - and in Kerry? We need some action.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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The request from myself and other Deputies for this Topical Issue debate was prompted by a briefing given by shop stewards from Cadbury's Coolock plant last Friday, which was attended by local representatives, including my colleague, Councillor Michael O'Brien. Contrary to the attitude expressed by the Minister at the meeting he had with Deputies and the attitude I presume will be expressed by the Government whereby it takes it as a given that these jobs will simply go and that it is simply a question of managing that situation, the workers' representatives correctly do not accept that as a given. They challenge the loss of those jobs in Coolock and I likewise would challenge the loss of jobs in Tallaght and Kerry.

No case is being made that the Coolock operation is loss making. It is simply a case of profit chasing and a race to the bottom. We have EU laws that require multinationals like Mondelez to engage in a negotiation process with the workforce when redundancies of a certain scale are underway but the negotiations that are taking place are far from genuine. The workers' representatives feel they are being deprived of both the information they need from the company about the performance of the plant and the resources needed to acquire independent expert advice to enable them to put forward a counter-proposal to safeguard the operation in Coolock. The Anti-Austerity Alliance and I support the workers' representatives' demands for that information and resources to help them in the negotiations.

Given Mondelez's past record, I feel that any proposal from the workers' side will not necessarily satisfy it if feels it can squeeze more profit elsewhere on the basis of lower pay, more intense work regimes and fewer protections for workers. That is the record of this company. This, therefore, begs the question about the model of recovery being pursued by the Government and the establishment in this country and the consequences of total dependence on the whims, caprices and profit chasing of multinational corporations. The skills and potential built up in these plants should not be allowed to go to waste regardless of the ridicule that such a notion would excite from the Government and other parts of this Chamber. We must put the idea of State enterprise, investment and worker-managed enterprise to protect jobs and as alternative model for economic development on the agenda.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this matter.

The Minister sends his apologies that he is unavailable to take this Topical Issue. He is currently leading a trade mission in the Gulf and India to grow the export markets of Irish companies and ultimately create jobs in Ireland so it was not possible for him to be here with the notice given of this debate.

I am very conscious of the anxiety that the announcement of job losses by the company concerned at its operations in Coolock creates for the workers there. The Minister has been engaging with the senior management of the company and has urged it to reconsider this decision. It is not a case of taking it for granted. He is urging management to reconsider the decision. He has also asked whether there is anything the State or its agencies can do to mitigate its effects. The company has pledged to support departing workers with placement services. The company has indicated that it will also work closely with workers in an effort to ensure that the impact of this decision is minimised to the greatest extent possible and to discuss investment it will be making in Ireland in order to build a stronger business here for the long term.

As the Deputies will be aware from their meeting with the Minister in his Department, he established an inter-agency group on 3 March to co-ordinate the Government's response to the job losses at the company. The group is chaired by Enterprise Ireland and membership includes the local enterprise offices, IDA Ireland, the education and training boards, the Department of Social Protection and the Citizens Information Bureau. I know the Deputies also requested another meeting with the Minister and I am sure that invitation is on his desk.

The group is seeking to secure alternative employment for the areas affected and also to ensure that departing workers have access to supports that they need from State agencies for retraining, access to social welfare supports, access to advice on employment rights and access to advice and support for those workers who might intend to start their own businesses. The first meeting of the group was held on 18 March.

The inter-agency group is open to meeting with the company's representatives and staff and has made an invitation to meet these parties through the company's management. In this regard, last week, the local management team met with employee representatives from the Coolock site in an effort to facilitate a meeting between staff representatives and the inter-agency group. I understand that the management has requested a meeting between the inter-agency group and staff representatives. The inter-agency group has suggested either 5 or 6 May for a meeting with staff representatives in Coolock and I understand that it is awaiting a response from the staff representatives regarding the suitability of these dates. The Deputies expressed a view here today that this date is too soon so I will make sure the Minister is aware of that as well. Enterprise Ireland has had meetings with the company's management on a weekly basis since the news of job losses broke. The agency has also visited the sites at Tallaght and Rathmore in Kerry to examine the potential for business opportunities.

I should also point out to the Deputies that Ireland has a robust suite of employment rights legislation which offers extensive protections to employees. The National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, is mandated to secure compliance with employment rights legislation. NERA information personnel are available to meet staff of the affected companies, either individually or collectively, to discuss their employment rights, including matters related to redundancy. The workplace relations customer service section can be contacted at lo-call 1890 80 80 90 or via its website at , which provides extensive information on employment rights. It is important that people are always informed of their rights. I would like to inform the Deputies that, if required, the State's industrial relations machinery is also available to assist the parties concerned in any way possible.

Employment growth continues to be the primary objective of this Government and we have been working hard to create the economic conditions which will support existing jobs as well as the creation of additional new jobs. Through the series of action plans for jobs, this Government has focussed on creating a supportive environment for businesses operating in Ireland. Our target was to create 100,000 new jobs by 2016 and we have already created 90,000 of those. More than 35,000 extra people are at work today in Dublin compared to three years ago. Almost half of these extra jobs are supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. A range of manufacturing companies supported by the Department through its enterprise development agencies are currently hiring in the area. In terms of new initiatives for job creation, Enterprise Ireland activity is focused on the creation of new jobs through continuing to work with established companies in its portfolio, including, of course, the company in question. The agency is also supporting entrepreneurs in manufacturing and internationally traded services companies which are setting up high potential start-up companies.

The local enterprise offices, LEOs, are the first-stop-shop for support to anyone wishing to start or expand a business, focusing on the micro-enterprise sector - those with ten employees or less. They pull together all the players - other Government Departments and agencies - to support everyone with a good business idea and to strengthen the enterprise sector in the local area. The LEOs can provide information, advice and guidance on the range of State supports to enterprise and signpost customers to the appropriate contacts across the various agencies that provide them. For businesses in the manufacturing or internationally traded services sectors, the LEOs can provide direct financial support to develop or implement a business idea. For other sectors, the LEOs may be able to provide non-financial supports such as specific and tailored business training or mentoring to help a business to develop. Each LEO is also active in developing local networks and other activities and events that bring business people and entrepreneurs together as a means of supporting each other.

The four LEOs in Dublin are available to support anyone with a business idea and who wants to consider entrepreneurship as a career option. I urge anyone who was made redundant or who is in danger of losing their job to make contact with their LEO to explore available options.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I have three short questions. Is the Minister aware that the current proposal to transfer manufacture of the Time Out bar to Poland with the loss of 63 jobs and another 2,500 tonnes from the site threatens the viability of the remaining operation in Coolock? The company's proposal to transfer manufacture of the Time Out bar and the restructuring programme targets 160 jobs to be lost this year. Is the Minister aware that the loss of tonnes from the site damages its competitive position compared to other Mondelez sites outside Ireland and further threatens the viability of the manufacturing plant in Coolock?

Is the Minister aware that a large part of the costs set out in the site comparison equation would remain following any transfer of production and hence further increase the cost per tonne for the remaining products? Also, a large part of the so-called investment is to be spent on reconfiguration of the existing plant, with slightly more than half that investment to be spent on chocolate production.

The staff are seeking the Minister's support to enable them develop a robust counter-proposal. They also want an assurance that everything possible is being done to prevent job losses at the Coolock plant. I urge the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to focus on this important issue. I believe the Coolock plant is a profitable and viable entity, and we need to roll up our sleeves and support it.

Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy English, for coming to the House to deal with this matter and for his response. I accept that the Minister, Deputy Bruton, is on a trade mission to India and wish him every success in that regard. Hopefully, that mission will result in a greater number of jobs than are being lost at the Coolock plant.

Despite that, I have been in touch with the Minister's office by e-mail and telephone since last Friday I have been, unfortunately, unable to get the information I required. I welcome that the inter-agency group meetings will commence on 5 or 6 May. It is unfortunate that it has taken such a long time to get to that stage. Perhaps the Minister of State would raise with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, on his return from the trade mission the need for him to meet with Deputies from the Dublin North East and Dublin North Central constituencies and brief them on the current situation. There appears to be a communication problem between ourselves and the Minister.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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The process outlined by the Minister of State, Deputy English, is incredibly roundabout, slow and cumbersome. When we walked down the steps of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation almost seven weeks ago our expectation was that this process would be up and running soon and that the enterprise agencies, including the local enterprise offices and so on, would have made contact with the workforce and Mondelez pretty immediately. We are now being told it will be another few weeks before this happens, which is incredible. I echo the comments of Deputy Kenny that we need to meet again with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to ensure urgent action on this matter. It beggars belief that the workers and their representatives and Mondelez were not immediately offered a meeting by the agencies.

I referred earlier to the number of other supports that workers believe would be helpful to them in making a robust counter-proposal to Mondelez management. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, appears to have done absolutely nothing to bring these forward. I mentioned previously that the Minister has a poor track record in the greater Coolock area in terms of supporting jobs. There are many empty factories in the area and estates that are run down. Despite having been a Minister for more than four years, he has done nothing for the area. He makes announcements here, there and everywhere - I understand he is in the Gulf now - but there is no delivery for Dublin Bay North. That is the problem. He does not deliver for his own constituency and he needs to do so.

The company concerned has employed thousands of people and supported thousands of families down through the decades. We need a response on this matter. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, chose not to serve on the Northside Partnership, which showed his lack of commitment to the area. Other Deputies were expected and delighted to serve on that partnership. We need a response from Deputy Bruton in his remaining months as Minister.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Hear, hear.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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Will the Government apply pressure on Mondelez to ensure that workers get all of the information and resources they are looking for from the point of view of putting forward an alternative plan? It seems to me that the problem is contained within the Minister of State's response in that there appears to be an acceptance that jobs will be lost. The inter-agency group set up by the Minister, which includes no worker representation, is predicated on accepting that the jobs will be lost.

In terms of a response to this ongoing situation, which could result in an industrial dispute, the Minister of State in his reply stated that the four local enterprise offices in Dublin are available to support anybody with a business idea who wants to consider entrepreneurship as a career option. Is that for real? Are workers who are demanding that their jobs be maintained being asked to consider entrepreneurship as a career option? Are they all to consider entrepreneurship as a career option, as opposed to actual social welfare supports or fighting to maintain their jobs?

The Minister of State also said in his reply that through a series of jobs action plans the Government has focused on creating a supportive environment for businesses operating in Ireland. I agree with that. The Government doles out grants to entice them in and then they leave. What we need is a supportive environment for sustainable jobs in Ireland that are decent and well paid and are not part of a race to the bottom, rather than a short-term approach of enticing in multinationals that are later free to walk away.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I would like to respond to a couple of the points made. As the Minister, Deputy Bruton, previously arranged a meeting of all those involved, I am sure there will be no problem in organising another such meeting. The Minister has a good track record in this regard and is willing to engage in constructive debate rather than the type of showmanship that is going on here today.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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It is not showmanship. That is outrageous. This is a real issue.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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In regard to Deputy McGrath's question as to whether the Minister is aware of all the issues, the Minister is, of course, well aware of them, and for two reasons.

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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He is not as interested in this issue as Deputy Finian McGrath is.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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First, he is the Minister with responsibility for jobs, and second, as a TD, he is very interested in local issues. The Minister has met with management of the company and all of the agencies involved and, as such, he is aware of all of the issues. The issue of a meeting with the workers was raised. An invitation for such a meeting has been issued. There appears to be an issue around organising a time for that meeting. I am not sure what the delay is, but there has not been a response from the workers to that invitation.

In regard to Deputy Paul Murphy's point about information, perhaps when the agencies meet with the workers it will be possible to put together a list of what is needed and we can then try to get that information for them. All efforts will be made to ensure the workers get what they need to make their counter-proposal. The Minister does not accept that the jobs are lost. However, he does not have a magic wand. Like everybody else, he is out there trying to negotiate and work with companies.

In regard to the Minister's success in terms of job creation, he has been very successful in that regard. Naturally, as Deputies, we all want jobs in our own backyard, but that is not always possible. The Minister is doing a good job in terms of the creation of sustainable jobs. Everybody knows that is the truth. While some people choose to use debates of this type to say otherwise, most people engage constructively on coming up with solutions.

As I said earlier, the Minister has set up the inter-agency group. Enterprise Ireland has met with the company on a weekly basis in an effort to come up with a solution. It is not the case that it has accepted defeat on this matter. It continues to engage on this issue and to seek to attract jobs to other sites. It is an ongoing process and all involved are doing their best. Hopefully, the outcome will be good.