Sir, - A lot has been said and written about Apple Computers, but nothing will take away from the fact that this company has served Cork and its people well over a 19 year period employing, at one stage, up to 1,800 people between full time and part time staff. We must never lose sight of the contribution to the economy over that period, at a time when downscaling forms part of the international company strategy.
It has become clear over a number of years now that Ireland, as a low-technology production facility, was going to find it extremely difficult to engage competition from the Far East and other lower-paid economies. Apple, like every other multi-national, is seeking the lowest cost base possible because of, in the first instance, competition from other PC companies. Secondly, because of the low profitability, they were obviously conscious of minimising manufacturing costs. The major plant in Wales is obviously providing this capacity to Apple and, as such, the parent company in the States has decided to opt for it.
I was impressed by management's commitment, when I met them recently, to continue to manufacture the G3 in Ireland. The facility at Apple has been designated as its European base, which will continue to employ 500 people. Those 500 people will, of course, continue to make it one of the largest employers in the northside of Cork city.
It is gratifying to understand that the G3 cannot be built in Wales at the LG operation centre. The added value of the G3 product over the iMac means that, obviously, Ireland is a more natural base, with the skills capacity of the workforce. Given the fact that there is now a demand for configuration to order business, means that the Cork plant can meet this requirement without any great difficulty. The fact that the company is going to invest £1 million in the plant to facilitate the increased production of the G3 is welcome but, alas, everybody must be conscious that in the case of the iMac, the laptop computer, the cyclical nature of that business means that we could have changes which would affect production between three and six months, whereas with the G3 product, it means that there would be a far slower gyration period (estimated as being between 12 months and 18 months).
Management presented a very positive case and continuity of employment at the Hollyhill plant has indicated the astuteness of the present move in terms of retaining jobs in Hollyhill. Finally, the public and everybody dealing with Apple would wish to be aware that the company filed returns for 1996 last October and gave us a guarantee that 1997 accounts would be filed within one month. We await the outcome with interest. - Yours, etc., Batt O'Keeffe
T.D., Dail Eireann, Baile Atha Cliath 2.