Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I previously raised in the House the issue of redundant SR Technics workers and the fact they have been let down so badly by this Government. There is an opportunity for workers to avail of the EU globalisation fund to access training similar to that availed of by Dell workers in Limerick. The Government failed to respond to this opportunity in a timely way, with extreme delays in applying and an application only being made in October. In January, additional information was sought by the Commission. In an official response to a Labour MEP, the Commission stated that as of 26 February it had not received the additional information requested. A follow-up question this week reveals the Commission has not yet received the additional information. If the Government is serious about assisting this group of highly skilled, hard-working people, it must come clean on the reasons for the delay. The former SR Technics must wait six to seven months to get EU support to pay for third level and retraining packages and initiatives because of this debacle. It has been more than a year since the announcement of the SR Technics closure at Dublin Airport. I have been contacted by many former workers concerned that their social welfare payments are running out and that there will be nothing in place thereafter. Former SR Technics workers do not deserve this scandalous treatment. I call on the Deputy Leader to raise this as a matter of urgency with the incoming Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to ensure this matter is not overlooked in any lead-in time while he is taking up his brief. It is a matter of extreme urgency and must be given the priority it deserves.