Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join other Senators in welcoming my constituency colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. We are happy to have her participate in this important debate. At present, 420 people are employed in Rye Valley. Most of the company's sales are in the UK. I am keen to put the level of employment in perspective. Of course it is always regrettable to hear about job losses. Our hearts go out to those affected. We stress the urgency of rectifying this situation. It is important to note that the 31 redundancies will take place on a voluntary basis and are not forced redundancies. We are not happy about the redundancies, but it is better that voluntary redundancy is being offered to people who might wish to retire for various reasons. Of course this is not what we want. I gather that the redundancies are needed to improve competitiveness.

Kerry Group is renowned for investment in, and the professional development of, its workforce. This means when these redundancies arise, this well-trained and skilled group of 31 people will be well placed to gain other forms of employment. I consider it important that any upskilling sought by these people should be available to them. All of the agencies, including the local education and training board, should be brought together to ensure any training needed by those who take voluntary redundancy to help them to get other employment is available to them. I urge the Minister to ensure all the agencies are there to help. I was impressed to hear her say she will be in contact with the Minister for Employment and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, to ensure active and personalised one-to-one support is available. I know such support has been available in the past in these kinds of situations. It is important that everyone is treated as an individual and met and dealt with personally.

If it is possible, even at this stage, for the jobs to be saved through negotiations, I urge all parties to engage. If there is any possibility to change work practices within the enterprise, for example, we appeal to those involved to facilitate this. If alternative employment can be secured, that is the ideal to which we would aspire. The north-west and north-east regional action plan for jobs, which includes a number of practical actions, is the key policy response on jobs in the Border region. The core objective of the plan is to have a further 28,000 people at work in the region by 2020. It places an emphasis on agrifood, manufacturing, engineering and tourism. The number of people in employment in the Border region increased by 12,000 between the first quarter of 2015 and the second quarter of 2017. Obviously, we want the Government to target its efforts in the Border region and we are delighted that we now have a Minister from the region to do that. The great news that 12,000 additional people are working in the Border region belies the notion that job creation is not spread across the regions.

In December of last year, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation announced an allocation of €305 million for a number of initiatives, including a digital hub in Cavan and a food excellence and innovation centre in Monaghan. I congratulate the Minister on these great initiatives, which we welcome. We hope they will contribute to a solution to this difficulty. It is important to note that there has been a 4% increase in the number of IDA Ireland-backed jobs in this area. Some 12,500 people in the Border region are employed in companies that are supported by IDA Ireland. The local enterprise offices support 1,152 small businesses and microbusinesses, which employed more than 5,220 people in the Border region in 2016. Between 2014 and 2017, Enterprise Ireland invested up to €80 million in client companies in support of enterprise capacity in the region. It is very important that this is the case. Again, there has been a 4% increase in jobs in the region.

I agree with my colleague, Senator Gallagher, that the matter of Rye Valley needs to be addressed and that the social protection aspects of this issue, such as the retraining of employees, need to be emphasised. We need to ascertain whether there is any potential for the situation to be resolved onsite and inhouse, for example through discussions between all the agencies, the unions, management and workers. If such potential exists, of course that is an optimum thing. We need to continue to focus on job creation. A great deal has already been achieved. There is a spread of jobs in the region. I am very happy with many of the announcements that have been made. We want to achieve more. We are very optimistic for the future of counties Cavan and Monaghan.