Will the Leader invite the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to the House as soon as possible to respond to the announcement in my constituency today, which has caused great concern, to the effect that Allergan will close its operations in Arklow and relocate to low-cost Costa Rica. This is a matter of grave concern for the 350 employees working for the firm who have been left in a position of great uncertainty. Most of them, like the rest of us, have mortgages, young families, car loans and so forth and all of them are facing into an uncertain future. I ask that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment come before the House to outline the strategy his Department will adopt in response to a worrying trend whereby companies are increasingly relocating their operations not on the basis of poor performance or problems with profit margins but because of the attractiveness of low cost locations in other parts of the world. 

The House should also seek a commitment that the Minister will pursue the matter of finding a replacement industry for Arklow, a designated growth centre under the strategic planning guidelines and a town with a young and growing population. In recent years, the IDA has been asked to be more proactive in securing industry for Arklow but has not yet managed to deliver. I ask that the Minister come before the House to address the issue as a matter of urgency. 

I also ask the Leader to request that the Minister for Education and Science come before the House to address the Ó Cuanacháin judgment, which is a matter of concern. I would like to hear her response to the decision by the High Courtnot to allow the costs incurred by the Ó Cuanacháin  family to be covered. This was a public interest case involving a couple who were seeking to secure appropriate education for their young son with autism. The form of education in question, ABA, is available in other areas and the programme for Government includes a commitment to make permanent the 12 ABA schools currently operating on an interim basis. It appears that if one lives in CountyWicklow, as the Ó Cuanacháin  parents do, one’s child is not able to access this specialised, important methodology for working with children with autism at an early stage. If, however, they lived over the county border in Dublin, they would be able to access this form of education. This is extremely unfair. 

The Ó Cuanacháin parents argued an important case in the High Court. It was an unusually long hearing which lasted for 69 days. Under the High Court ruling issued yesterday they will have to bear their legal costs. I ask the Leader to request that the Minister come before the House to outline her views on the case. I hope the appeal to the Supreme Court will result in a different judgment for the Ó Cuanacháin family.     

Filed under:
Order of Business, Seanad Speeches by Deirdre