John Gilroy (Labour)

On 15 December 2008, the Swissco Limited plant in Little Island in Cork, manufacturer of ready-made meals, closed down, leaving 154 employees out of work. Despite a Labour Court ruling that these workers are entitled to two weeks redundancy in addition to their statutory payment and an agreement between management and staff to negotiate these and further terms, the company has walked away from its commitments. The plant was set up in 1974 and workers are owed in excess of €2 million. Many of the staff have worked there since the beginning and are finding it difficult in the current circumstances to find new employment.

An equally disturbing element of this case is that Swissco Limited received €3.9 million in IDA Ireland grant aid in 2006 and a further €4.1 million in 2007. In other words, it received Government funding of €8 million in the two years before it ceased operations in the State. The company's management structure is rather complicated. Its parent company, International Cuisine Limited, based in Durham in England, is owned by Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited, which is owned by the Singapore Government. There have been several half-hearted attempts in the past three years to recoup the money owed to workers, including a farcical letter from the previous Minister for Foreign Affairs to Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited. We have had every type of promise from other politicians, including the former Minister of State with responsibility for labour issues.

There are rumours that IDA Ireland is initiating legal proceedings to recoup its €8 million investment, but I have been unable to confirm this.