Sir, - The fact that the workforce in the Semperit manufacturing plant in Ballyfermot worked hard to make the plant profitable and were committed to performance improvement programmes, such as ISO 9002 certification, has, I believe been clearly acknowledged by the company. Therefore, I welcomed Councillor Vincent Jackson's reiteration of this in your letters page (September 26th). However, I must take him to task over his statement that the £25 million investment programme to modernise the plant in 1993 was "publicly funged".
The fact is that since Continental AG took over Semperit Ireland in 1985, it has made a capital investment of over £45 million in the plant. IDA grants over that ten year period amounted to £5.7 million and, in fact, there has been no IDA investment in the plant for the past three years.
While Semperit Ireland has recorded a profit in recent years, it has to be noted that the plant was not profitable before 1991 and, when Continental AG took over in 1985, was on the verge of closure for this very reason. Accumulated losses carried forward on Semperit Ireland's books were in excess of £20 million at the end of 1995.
The parent company did, in fact, make a major "long term commitment" to the future of the Ballyfermot tyre plant, contrary to Councillor Jackson's belief. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the management and workforce, global market forces determined that a viable future for Semperit Ireland could not be secured. - Yours, etc
Managing director, Semperit (Ireland) Ltd,
Killeen Road,
Dublin 10.