Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I support Senator Coffey on this matter. We want fair play for Waterford and the south east but that is not what we have had in recent years. Senator Coffey referred to the haemorrhage of jobs in recent months, with 600 jobs lost at Waterford Crystal, 200 at Bausch & Lomb and 178 at ABB Transformers. We wish the people of Limerick well. They need this finance but we want fair play, particularly for Waterford Crystal workers. They have suffered enough, with their pensions almost totally eroded. People paid into a pension for 40 years and came out with a pittance and hardly any lump sum. It is a disgrace. Those who put so much money into the economy over the past 40 or 50 years should be treated with the utmost respect. When will we get the money? I take it the application for funding is in and we should be getting the money fairly soon. I await the Minister's response on that.