The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has offered a possible reprieve for the 36 workers at Blindcraft, the State agency which provides employment for the blind and visually impaired. Martin Wall reports.
Blindcraft, currently in Inchicore, Dublin, has been in operation since 1957 and makes beds and baskets. It had been scheduled to close down next year as part of the Government's healthcare reforms.
However, following a meeting with staff representatives yesterday, the Minister said that a working group would be established to examine all options.
He said there had been conflicting views on the potential viability of Blindcraft, and the working group would bring in external advisers to look at options. The provision of alternative employment could be one of the options considered.
Mr Martin said that the Department of Health had obligations to the visually impaired, to provide meaningful and viable employment.
The State, he said, had guaranteed the "economic status" of the Blindcraft workers.
A total of 26 of the 36 workers at Blindcraft are either blind or visually impaired.
The Dublin regional secretary of SIPTU, Ms Patricia King, told The Irish Times last night that the meeting with the Department of Health had been very constructive and said the working group should "breathe new life" into the organisation.
She said that until now Blindcraft had been operating under a sentence of death and that the sole remit of the board was to close it down.
Ms King said that the working group, which will be made up of representatives of SIPTU, the workforce, Blindcraft management and the Department of Health, would consult with FÁS and Enterprise Ireland on developing a viable business plan for the agency.
Staff representatives who attended the meeting also expressed their satisfaction at the outcome.
Ms Paula Dorrington, a shop steward, said she felt there would be jobs for all the workers in Blindcraft, leading into the future.
"I was very stressed and I feel that a great weight has been lifted off me today", she said.
A worker representative on the board of Blindcraft, Mr Christy McEvoy, said he hoped that with the introduction of new trades and proper continuity of work the agency would be a viable organisation again within a couple of years.