Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

The Minister is away on Government business and cannot be here.

Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta Teoranta, MFG, is an independent company with its own board of management and memorandum and articles of association which has responsibility under company law for the proper stewardship of the company. My Department has no role in the internal operations of local development or partnership companies and, therefore, does not have a role in staff matters, which are for the board of the company as the employer, to manage.

Pobal, which manages programmes on behalf of the Department, commenced an audit of MFG in January 2010. The audit findings and associated recommendations were notified to MFG in June 2010. An independent executive, Mazars, was appointed by Pobal to MFG on 30 June 2011 to examine the outstanding audit issues and to identify suitable mechanisms for their resolution. The executive presented its interim findings to Pobal in mid-August 2011 and presented its recommendations and progress to the board of MFG on 7 September 2011. The final status on the recommendations was scheduled to be presented by the independent executive to Pobal by 30 September 2011.

MFG has confirmed that its board, on examination of the company's financial situation, took the decision to cease trading as of 4 p.m. on 7 September 2011 on the basis of insolvency. The board has also confirmed that all staff contracts have been terminated since the board meeting. The Department and Pobal met with MFG and the independent executive, Mazars, on 9 September 2011 to establish the facts with regard to the specific decisions taken by the company and on its progress on implementing these decisions. The company was strongly encouraged to avail of financial advice alongside the legal advice, which it was stressed was imperative, and it was encouraged to access the same immediately. It also committed to immediately effect all other necessary work to meet its statutory obligations with regard to staff. It was agreed at that meeting that MFG would take full legal advice on the necessary steps in this process and ensure it fulfils all statutory duties in that respect. The Department and Pobal are awaiting a written update on the implementation of this work. Pobal will continue to offer any appropriate support to aid this work. In parallel, my Department and Pobal are examining mechanisms to support the continuation of services previously supplied by MFG within the Gaeltacht areas. However, it should be noted that MFG is a private limited company and it is beyond the remit of my Department to direct the business of such a company in any way. It is the responsibility of the company's board of directors to fulfil all its obligations under company and employment law. As the Senator will know, the issue of employee rights is the responsibility of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation while responsibility for welfare rights rests with the Department of Social Protection.