Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is here to discuss this issue. In recent days, the announcement that the dairy company Corman Miloko, which employed 31 people at its manufacturing plant facility, is to close at the end of June came as devastating news for the families of those impacted, and the town of Carrick-on-Suir and surrounding areas. A statement by the company said the decision was as a result of a reduction in the volume of business contracted at the facility in recent years and follows significant restructuring efforts to enable it to operate in a highly competitive marketplace.

Corman Miloko was the last of the traditional employers in Carrick-on-Suir. It has been there 70 years or more, and it is there longer than I am on this earth. Between it and the tannery in Carrickbeg, they must have had 700 or 800 jobs. Corman Miloko has an excellent workforce. I remember when they worked three shifts around the clock and the company also supported local hauliers and Glanbia tankers with a washing facility. They were a tremendous workforce and it was a good company to work for, let us be fair about it.

I know the Minister of State has been engaging and will engage further with the factory and the company. The town of Carrick-on-Suir is decimated because we do not have jobs. We have the Carrick-on-Suir Development Association, CoSDA, and the many local employers and Councillor Kieran Bourke have done Trojan work to try to keep the town going, but it is becoming a satellite town for other towns as we do not have any industry.

Tá cúpla ceisteanna agam. Has the option been explored for an alternative use for the new manufacturing plant, which is located just off the N24, in order for it to continue to have an important role in the local economy? Will a task force be established to examine the potential for job creation in this area? What efforts is the IDA making to attract foreign companies to set up operations in those areas?

I cannot emphasise enough how good the workforce have been and there have been many families I knew over the years who worked there. I hope they will be engaged in other Glanbia plants or, if not and if they prefer to take redundancy, I hope they will be well looked after because they have earned it and they deserve it. They are a good workforce.

It is a very delicate site. The front wall of the plant is only 5 m or 6 m away from the N24. At the back, just metres away, there is the newly developed Suir Blueway, which is a huge tourist attraction for cyclists, walkers, fishermen and the like. We cannot have this site go in any way into a state of dereliction. I am not giving up the ghost that we will find some other business for it, but we must maintain that site. It is a highly technical site. At one time, there used to be odours but that was all sorted out with a state-of-the-art, high-tech percolation treatment unit. It is a good plant and it is up and running. We have until June and, please God, some other use will be found for it but, if not, the staff must be supported. As I said, with Tipperary County Council and CoSDA, the plant must be put to good use and it cannot be allowed to fall into a state of dereliction.

The tannery is a distant memory in Carrick-on-Suir. Corman Miloko has given long service but this is a sore point with the people of Carrick-on-Suir, south-east Tipperary and east Waterford. We want to make sure this does not go the same road and that we will find an alternative, and keep a willing workforce engaged in productive work.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and giving me an opportunity to address it. Like the Deputy, I was extremely disappointed to learn the news of this closure and my first concern goes to those workers and their families, as well as the wider population of Carrick-on-Suir straddling the Waterford and Tipperary border that so many of us know so well and have enjoyed visiting so many times.

The Department learned of the impending closure of the plant last week. Unfortunately, as the Deputy knows, Corman Miloko has experienced reduced volumes in recent years and restructuring efforts simply were not successful. The company has now begun its consultation process with all existing employees regarding a redundancy programme and it has been in touch with my Department about this. I can assure the Deputy that Tirlán and Enterprise Ireland will remain in close contact with the company, as will departmental officials, to support the workers and the company through this very delicate process up to and beyond June.

I have requested that officials in my Department monitor the situation carefully and, crucially, work closely with the Department of Social Protection to do whatever we can for the employees affected.

I know this is a frightening time for the employees and their families, but it is important to talk to them about what opportunities there are and what work will be done by the Government and its agencies to help them through this very difficult process. They are the number one key priority, as well as all the related people, be they family members or the people who rely on the workers in this business second hand in Carrick-on-Suir.

At a time when there is so much job creation in the country and, in effect, full employment, it is very simple for many people to dismiss any sort of redundancy and say there are always jobs out there, but as Deputy Mattie McGrath knows better than I do, many of these people have put their entire lives into this enterprise. As he says, it was a good plant but, unfortunately, restructuring of the parent company has meant it has had to move its operations elsewhere. However, that does not mean we give up on the site or, more important, on the workers. I know that this does not make the loss any easier for those who work in the plant, but I trust it gives them some hope that the Government will put a significant effort into them as people if they want to retrain, reskill or more importantly help them get the many jobs that are unfilled in this region in the dairy and production sector. The Deputy knows as well as I do the number of companies around Tipperary and into Waterford who are keen to get high quality staff like the people who worked in Corman Miloko and gave their lives to it.

It is important to stress that we are there to support and help those who find themselves losing their job or without work to avail of training courses, financial support and mentorship. I urge everyone impacted to reach out to their local Intreo office to see what is available to them when a statutory redundancy package is offered. The Government will ensure that the package is fully compliant with the requirements Corman Miloko has to Irish law.

Deputy Mattie McGrath asked for more detail on the future use of the site. The site will go back to Tirlán, while the equipment will go to Corman Miloko, which will use it in its other operations. I have great hopes for this site. As the Deputy rightly says, it is in a perfect location in the region and in the country to attract good, high-quality investment like the 600 additional jobs Enterprise Ireland has brought to Tipperary in recent years, in addition to the surge in jobs in Waterford.

Even though the job losses will be very difficult for many people, no stone will be left unturned to make sure new jobs are provided and, crucially, that the enterprise goes into such an important town as Carrick-on-Suir and the affected regions nearby.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his positive reply. I hope he will engage with the administrative district members. I mentioned Kieran Bourke and the current chair, David Dunne.

There is a wonderful plant upstream, the Merck, Sharp & Dohme, MSD, facility. It is often said that foreign direct investment companies come and then go away but that company is there nearly 60 years now. It is only a few miles up the river. The Carrick-on-Suir Development Association, COSDA, is a wonderful organisation with great people involved with the business people. We have a wonderful network of schools, sporting clubs and everything else in Carrick-on-Suir. The spirit of the people cannot be questioned. They are willing to work and engage with the Minister of State in a task force with companies such as Merck, Sharp & Dohme, which helped in the past. I hope we will have a replacement plant on the site because it is so close to the road. The river is right behind it, and we got deliveries from barges long ago.

This plant has served us well. There is a dedicated workforce, some of them second generation, whose parents worked there as well. The plant precedes my birth, and I am 64 bliain d'aois. We must work sensitively with the county council, the councillors I mentioned, COSDA and companies like Merck, Sharp & Dohme and other business people in Carrick-on-Suir that have great ideas and the private employers that give great employment to people. All hope is not lost. The workers must be looked after. The plant must be kept open.

I was a bit alarmed to hear that the equipment might be moved by the parent company. Tirlán, formerly Glanbia, started off with south Tipperary farmers, ordinary people in the spirit of the co-operative society, the meitheal. We must go back and invoke that spirit again, of the late great Canon Hayes and try to revitalise this plant and get new people into it as soon as the company leaves because the wheels and cogs must be kept turning. We cannot leave it to become derelict in any way. We must work hard to try to keep it going.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I assure Deputy McGrath that hope is most certainly not lost in regard to this site and the people who have worked in this plant for so many years. We must put the redundancies that are happening in context. It is nothing to do with the efficiency of the plant itself. It is certainly nothing to do with the 31 workers who have put their blood, sweat and tears into it. Unfortunately, it is due to the decision of the parent company.

Deputy McGrath might acknowledge that this is happening at a time when the economy is growing and we, effectively, have no unemployment. We are able to invest time, as the Deputy talked about, not just into the town of Carrick-on-Suir but this specific site.

The Deputy asked for a couple of undertakings. Of course we will engage with the local councillors both in Carrick-on-Suir and over the border in Waterford. I have already had a meeting with Senator Ahearn about the issue.

Deputy McGrath mentioned Merck, Sharp & Dohme. It is convenient that I will be meeting the company next week in the Department not just about this plant but about wider issues in the south east and mid-west, where it has a lot of operations. I give the Deputy an undertaking that I will raise this specific area and the need for reinvigoration in this area with the company when I meet it next week.

I hope I can get across that I want to work with the Deputy on this issue. I share his passion to make sure that once the statutory issues have been addressed that we get these extremely skilled people back into the workforce because we badly need them, in particular in the dairy sector. This is not like the dark old days when the shutting down of a plant like this could destroy an entire town. There are opportunities for jobs, training and, more important, for these skills to be put back into the economy extremely quickly.

I look forward to working with Deputy McGrath in the coming weeks, into June and beyond, to make sure that we breathe entrepreneurial life into the town and surrounding areas.