Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Waterford Crystal provides 990 jobs. More than 400 are to go under a redundancy and restructuring package, which leaves more than 500 jobs. As Senator Coffey said, a request was made that the Government guarantee a loan of €39 million. It was not granted because to do so could set a precedent for the future. There have been many precedents, such as PMPA, the Goodman group and many other companies that were bailed out by the State. The precedent argument does not wash. There is palpable anger in the city from which I come at the Government's stance on this issue. Not so long ago there were more than 3,000 jobs in Waterford Crystal in Dungarvan and Waterford City. That is down to 500. With more than 3,000 people on very good wages paying PRSI and PAYE Waterford Crystal probably contributed more than any other company in the country over the years. To be denied the loan guarantee over the next three years does not go down well in the city.

As my colleague stated, we need clarity on what assistance the Government will give. Pious platitudes like retraining grants do not wash for this flagship company. We need to know what the Government will do and what specific actions it will take to help the company to continue to exist in Waterford. The company and unions are very disappointed about the decision made. They were hopeful in recent weeks that a positive response would be forthcoming from the Government.

I tabled an Adjournment matter in the House three weeks ago to find out the Government's stance and I withdrew it in the interests of the workers, the company and the unions because negotiations were at a delicate stage. I did not think I would be coming back to the House three or four weeks afterwards to speak on the issue because the response to the request from Waterford Crystal was negative. It is certainly a kick in the teeth to the people of Waterford and the remaining workers. I hope in his response the Minister of State would have concrete proposals on what the Government intends to do to help the workers of Waterford Crystal.