Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I call for a debate with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the job cuts announced by Cadbury last week. A total of 145 of the 220 job losses will be in Coolock alone, an area which already has a high rate of unemployment. The job cuts came as a major shock last week to employees in Coolock and to those in Kerry and Tallaght as well. However, it is evident that the Minister knew about these cuts in advance. Employees deserve to know what the Minister knew, when he knew it and what efforts he took not only through the State agencies but also directly to try to prevent them.

The last time jobs were under threat in Cadbury in 2010, the then Minister, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe, met not only the head of Cadbury in Ireland but the head of Cadbury in Europe directly. He managed to persuade the company to protect jobs in Ireland. Employees in Coolock, Kerry and Tallaght deserve to know whether this Minister, Deputy Bruton, took the same steps.I have just come from a meeting with the Minister where I asked him this question directly, but he did not answer directly. He said he had had contact with the company at a high level but would not say with whom. I asked if he had reached out to the European management and he refused to answer. We can only assume, unless the contrary is made clear, that he did not. That is a shame. When there are jobs to announce or there is a ribbon to be cut, Ministers fall over themselves to do it, but when jobs are at risk and they need to roll up their sleeves and protect them, they are missing in action. More needs to be done to protect existing jobs.

It is good that there have been positive job announcements from other companies over the past few weeks but we need to protect the jobs we have. I was very disappointed to hear at that meeting that the Government had not put in place any research and development investment with Cadbury over the past few years. I appreciate that we cannot subsidise jobs directly to improve competitiveness on wage costs but we can engage with companies on research and development, and IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland have the scope to do so.

I also call for a debate on the announcement by the Health Service Executive, HSE, this morning about the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service. I was shocked to hear the announcement because the Minister gave a commitment three weeks ago that no decision would be made without consultation with Dublin Fire Brigade. The HSE announced today, however, that the fire brigade service is to be discontinued. It announced that unilaterally, without any contact with the fire brigade. I am extremely worried about this move. I have met representatives of the fire brigade service over the past year. This seems to be more of a cost-cutting exercise than an attempt to improve the service. There is a problem with response times in Dublin that needs to be tackled. We need to make sure we get the best service we can. It is very worrying to see something this big, especially in an area where patient safety is so important, being announced unilaterally rather than after consultation. It is essential that the Minister for Health come to the House to address that issue.