Seanad debates

Thursday, 25 June 2015

10:30 am

Photo of Diarmuid WilsonDiarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning Liberty Insurance announced 270 redundancies, with 135 job losses in Dublin, 20 in Enniskillen and 115 in my town of Cavan. This comes on top of 285 redundancies in 2012. These redundancies will have a devastating effect on the workers who will lose their jobs, their families and the towns involved. I call on the Leader to invite the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, to the House as a matter of urgency to outline what the Government intends to do to try to prevent these job losses. In the event of these job losses going ahead, the Minister must outline what the Government will do to replace those jobs. Liberty Insurance took over the former Quinn Group in April 2011 and, in my opinion, got it for a song. It has an obligation to the original insurance company and its employees, as well as to the towns affected by its actions. It has an obligation to maintain employment in those areas. I am not proposing an amendment to the Order of Business because I understand the Minister is not available today, but I want him to come the House as a matter of urgency to see if these redundancies can be prevented and to hear his plans to replace these much-needed jobs if the redundancies go ahead, which I hope they do not.

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