madam president it has now been over a year since the aircraft maintenance firm sr technics announced that they were closing their facility at dublin airport with the loss of over a thousand jobs
in an effort to compensate for those losses an application was submitted in october two thousand and nine to the european globalisation fund egf on behalf of sr technics workers
however this form was rejected as incomplete by the commission and i can confirm that almost five months later the irish government has still not submitted a complete application
while the irish government has been distracted by an economic collapse of its own making and a spate of ministerial resignations in the last few months an application form with the potential to transform hundreds of lives has been left sitting on a minister's desk
this house is aware that the irish state coffers are bare
a cynic would be forgiven for thinking that the government's inaction may be down to its own difficulty in meeting its end of the bargain if the egf payments are finally secured
would the irish government be prepared to do something about that
