Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a serious jobs crisis in Kerry. I wish to raise the closure of BorgWarner in Tralee. This bombshell occurred a couple of days ago and took the workers and the town of Tralee by surprise. It was akin to the bombing of Pearl Harbour. I thank the Tánaiste for already showing an interest in this serious issue. I must explain that this amount of jobs being lost in Kerry, which has a population of 150,000, is equivalent to 2,100 or 2,200 jobs being lost in the population of 1.5 million in the greater Dublin area. If that happened here, the Taoiseach and every Minister would be out doing something about it. This is an awful blow to the areas where these workers live in Tralee, Killarney, Listowel and Killorglin.

The job losses follow other job losses such as the 130 jobs in Debenhams in Tralee and almost 200 jobs in Fexco in Killorglin and Cahersiveen. Aqua Dome Tralee is to remain closed until at least next April. This has been a massive attraction and is a serious loss to business in Tralee. The move to cut three race nights from the monthly calendar by the Irish Greyhound Board and relocate them to Cork and Limerick has hurt many dog owners and will certainly hurt business in Tralee. I support the request of Ken Tobin of Tralee Chamber Alliance that Kerry be separated from Cork city when it comes to economic development as they are and have always been two separate regions and should be treated as such. I ask the Government to set up an emergency jobs task force to address the jobs crisis in Kerry and ask the relevant Minister to come down to meet the workers and stakeholders in Tralee as soon as possible.

The Cahersiveen and Iveragh area has been devoid of any job creation for many years under successive Governments.

From Kells station through Cahersiveen right up around the Ring of Kerry to Sneem and Kenmare is now totally dependent on a bit of farming, fishing and tourism. When the youngsters go off to college, most never return as there are no jobs to come back to. The only thing the Government has brought to Cahersiveen is asylum seekers to the unfit-for-purpose Skellig Star hotel, where we are told food and water are now being rationed. The Kerry jobs situation has been exacerbated by the Green Party's role in the programme for Government. We will no longer have Shannon LNG providing natural gas, which was to create between 350 and 500 badly needed jobs in north Kerry, even though this company has already spent €70 million of its own money and was going to fund totally the project itself. We need gas for at least 30 more years.

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