James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I support the motion and urge the Government to give the proposals outlined by the Labour Party full and active consideration in the interests of the economic viability of communities throughout the country and the security and wellbeing of individual workers within the system. The continued prosperity of this country and its economic wellbeing and viability are dependent on such a commitment by the Government. Senator Mansergh, on the Order of Business today, pointed to the lack of a row-back by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats.

The system must be seen to be fair and equal, with all areas of the country enjoying equity under employment policy. Longford and Westmeath are getting less than their fair share of State-assisted jobs. It is only approximately 3%. Now a disaster has temporarily destroyed the C&D Foods company, which was the lynchpin of the Longford economy and one of the largest industrial and employment centres in the country. Future employment must be created in the constituency by attracting new industry and giving every possible support to C&D Foods Limited to get its production up and running again in the shortest possible timescale.

The temporary closure of C&D Foods Limited will have a serious impact on the economic life of County Longford and parts of County Westmeath. More than 40 40-foot containers left the factory each week. The spin off of the accident will be far-reaching in the business community in the midlands with up to 50 other companies directly or indirectly affected by the fire. The impact will be felt by every shop, pub, entertainment centre, bank, credit union, taxi and other business within a 30 miles radius of Edgeworthstown. The disaster was a bitter blow for the people of Longford-Westmeath and the Reynolds family. The effects of the fire are far-reaching for the people of the midlands, some of whom had four or five members of their families employed by the plant and whose lives were interlinked with its success over the years.

While praise is due to the management of the plant, who acted to reinstate 173 workers within a fortnight of the disaster, much needs to be done for the 300 remaining employees who have no realistic hope of resuming their jobs in the immediate future. The company has said that it will be at least 16 months before full production can resume. Following on the financial strains of Christmas, these workers are devastated by this terrible tragedy. I ask the Minister of State to set up a taskforce with the aim of providing support for families with mortgage payments and other commitments to meet with little means to do so. Security of existing jobs in the county is the main concern in the area and I hope the Minister will ensure these jobs are maintained.

The progression of the decentralisation programme will now be more essential than ever to the area. The projected timescale for completion of the move by the Prison Service is September, involving approximately 143 jobs. This will provide a necessary boost to the hard hit population of Longford.

In recent years we saw the failure of Cardinal Health to open a plant in Longford, with the resultant loss of 1,300 jobs, the failure to follow through on phase 2B of Mullingar Hospital, with the resultant lack of new employment possibilities, the fire at Glennon Sawmills outside Longford town, with a fall-off in employment, and the closure of the Glanbia meat factory in Rooskey on the Longford border, also due to a fire.