David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I take the opportunity this morning to welcome the announcement by the vice president of Bausch & Lomb, who is in the Visitors Gallery, of a capital investment in its plant in Waterford. A number of weeks ago, workers were presented with a fait accompliof 200 redundancies and pay cuts of up to 20%. Since then there have been intensive negotiations between the two trade unions involved, the workers themselves and the management of the company, with the support of all the Oireachtas Members who worked constructively together on the issue. Others were involved such as the Department and the Minister, and they played a constructive role as well. The problem is that we are still faced with 200 redundancies and the workers have sacrificed a large portion of their pay - up to 15% - to keep the plant open. We should commend their courage and bravery in accepting that outcome and thereby helping to protect the 900 jobs that will remain. The new capital investment is a vote of confidence in the future of the plant.
I have called several times for a debate on regional development and do so again today. We still have very high levels of unemployment across the State generally, with particularly high levels in certain regions. The south east is one of those areas. We must have a suite of Government interventions across a range of Departments to help the south-east region to grow its economy, create jobs and attract more investment and industry. The Government must implement the recommendations contained in the several reports that have been published, including the report published by me on behalf of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. We must be told how the Forfás report commissioned by the Minister on the national jobs action strategy is impacting on regional development. Are all of the various proposals and promises that were made being delivered? How can we help regions which are clearly underperforming and require greater investment and a coherent Government strategy? I thank the Leader for his role in resolving the difficult situation at Bausch & Lomb in recent weeks and ask that he facilitate the debate for which I am again calling.