Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this important issue. She is aware that Wellman International, based in Mullagh, County Cavan, recently went into examinership. Serious concerns have been raised regarding the future of the company and the rights of its employees. There are more than 200 jobs at risk. The company has been an established employer in the area for more than 50 years, and many employees have worked for it for decades. The potential loss of these good-quality jobs would be a devastating blow to the community and the local economy. Some 215 people will be out of work if a new, well-intentioned owner is not found. That is 215 people who will be worrying about their mortgages, household bills and how to put food on the table.

Many people went to Wellman’s as craft apprentices and have stayed with the company since. Some employees have been with it for more than 45 years. Those employees will only be offered statutory redundancy. How can this be?

I was surprised by the statement the Minister of State issued in which she indicated that her thoughts were with the workers. Is offering thoughts and prayers all the Government can do? She is a local, and she is also Minister of State at the Department of enterprise. She needs to start throwing her weight around in the Department and deliver something for the workers of Cavan. She also said that the Government is well aware of the challenges.If the Government was well aware that this company was headed for disaster, why did it continue to pump taxpayers' money into it without oversight as to how it was being run, without contingency plans for the workers who have been affected, and without ensuring workers' rights to redundancy packages? The company knew it was not profitable for the past two years and yet there was no attempt to rightsize or scale it back from a 24-7 operation. This company is supported by the IDA and therefore by the Irish taxpayer. There should be some level of Government oversight. There is an onus on the State to ensure the assets derived from taxpayers' money are not simply sold to speculators or stripped for God knows what.

Do we know anything about the new investor and his or her intentions? Will the Minister of State tell us why employees of the Indorama Ventures group received redundancy packages in other countries but not here? How can a multimillion euro corporation plead insufficient finances and only offer statutory redundancy to Irish workers? Why has the loophole in the law that allows this to happen not been closed? The company went into examinership at the High Court last Tuesday at 2.45 p.m. At 5 p.m., an investor appeared out of thin air. This has created real concern among workers. They are wondering whether this is a genuine investor or a speculator or asset stripper. They do not know. How can we be sure the company has not choreographed the situation with this investor all along? Does the Minister of State have further insight into the investor? Can the employees trust him or her? Will the Minister of State answer these questions and outline the steps she is going to take to support the employees and workers in Mullagh?