Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I remind Senator Moylan that at the time of these closures, his party politicised the situation to the ultimate degree. It actually recruited the Archbishop of Tuam and dragged him to Government Buildings when he was quite unable to come in order to emphasise how much of a crime the closure was for the west of Ireland. So it was because the jobs that were, and are, in the sugar factories cannot be replaced. I do not know whether the Minister realised that when she said she would ask her colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, to get replacement jobs.

The Government is destroying the fabric of so many families that have worked in Carlow loyally over the years, either part time or full time, and who have become dependent on it. It appears there is scant regard across the House for the investment of the farmers who have produced beet in those areas, which has been enormous. The numbers not currently involved in producing beet, servicing and supplying the Carlow area on a traditional basis, will deteriorate and decline rapidly. The number of farmers producing beet in the traditional Tuam catchment area may now be counted on one hand. I accept Tuam was in a peripheral area, outside the most beneficial regions for producing beet, but the cessation of beet growing on the periphery of the Carlow region will be a loss to that area as well and it will happen.

On listening to the disarray from the Government side, it is no wonder that the CEO of the sugar company said on the six o'clock news this evening that it was a done deal, over and finished for Carlow. That is a serious situation. However, the Minister was not aware or at least did not declare her awareness of the fact that it was a done deal. The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, said he was going to fight on for the retention of the Carlow plant, but he was pandering to the crowd, the people he knew so well, and his colleagues in the IFA. There was not an ounce of sincerity in what he said on that particular occasion. We cannot realistically say there is a chance of survival in Carlow. That is the tragedy and the Government has no plan to overcome that situation. Fianna Fáil played the game in the past to the ultimate degree over Tuam. I am not too sure about Thurles.

With the permission of the House, I wish to share my time with Senator Cummins.