Waterford Crystal loan aid refusal ‘devastating’

THE Government’s refusal to guarantee a €39m loan for Waterford Crystal was “unimaginative and potentially devastating to the Waterford area”, the Dáil has heard.

Labour’s Brian O’Shea, who represents the constituency, said unemployment had risen substantially in Waterford over the past year and the state’s decision has put further jobs at risk.

Some 490 jobs are already in the process of being eliminated at Waterford Crystal as part of a restructuring package announced late last year. However, Waterford Wedgwood, the parent company of Waterford Crystal, had said the remaining 550 jobs at the glassmaker could be secured if the Government guarantees the loan.

Wedgwood is unable to raise the money of its own accord because of the conditions surrounding existing loans.

However, on Tuesday, the Government announced it would not be providing the guarantee.

“The decision to reject guaranteeing loans of up to €39m is incredible in the context of the 550 jobs that are at stake,” Mr O’Shea told the Dáil during a late-night debate on Wednesday. “It would cost the IDA [Industrial Development Agency] multiples of that figure to develop a similar number of jobs in Waterford,” he said.

“If the Government does not review this awful decision, the knock-on effects for the Waterford area will be unthinkable.”

One of the reasons the Government was believed to have rejected the application was out of fear that other companies in trouble would seek similar assistance.

But Mr O’Shea said this was just “a cover for inaction and a lack of courage and initiative”.

“Applications for aid on the part of industrial concerns that may or may not be made in the future must be dealt with on their merits. The Waterford Crystal case has unanswerable merit and logic to it,” he said.

Mr O’Shea raised the issue again with Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan in the Dáil yesterday.

In response, Ms Coughlan insisted she was not indifferent to the situation in Waterford, but said the Government had not been in a position to guarantee the loan.

“A request was made to the Government and, arising from that, it was not possible to devise an approach that would be acceptable to both the Government and the company. We were not in a position to do that,” she said.

“However, it is our hope and aspiration that through the restructuring, the Waterford Group will find itself in a position where it can deal with the issues appertaining to Waterford and the group in its entirety.”

She repeated the Government’s promise that it would look “sympathetically” at future requests from the company for more conventional forms of financial assistance, such as grants for retraining or redevelopment.