Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to give the Senator a guarantee that the resources of the State, through my own Department, NERA, the Department of Social Protection and the education and training boards, will be available to workers. The company is in a 30-day consultation period and it has obligations during that period to consult its workers. I do not propose to comment on those consultations but, obviously, the resources of the State, such as the Labour Relations Commission, will be available to assist if there are issues on which advice could be given.

This is a difficult reminder of the challenging competitive environment in which every industry operates. There will always be reverses, and one cannot put one's hand on one's heart and say about any sector that there never will be a challenge and everything will be perfect. There will always be change, and the difficulty is that the changes that have occurred in the UK insurance market have caused difficulties for this company. It is a battle every day in respect of our approach to supporting companies that are facing threats while also supporting companies that are considering opportunities. It is positive that in Cavan and, indeed, in the country as a whole, we are winning more of those battles than we are losing. A total of 105,000 additional people are at work since we commenced the Action Plan for Jobs in 2012, with approximately 19,000 of those in the Border region. More companies are expanding than are getting into difficulty.

However, this is a timely reminder that we have to always be vigilant and make sure that we make the changes and create the competitive environment in all our areas of endeavour to support growth, because there are always challenges around the corner. I thank the Senator for raising this issue and I assure him that I will talk to the agencies to ensure timely support is available for the people affected.