More than two-thirds of workers made redundant in Dungarvan and Clonmel following the merger of Waterford Foods and Avonmore have found alternative employment or started their own businesses.
A task force report presented last week to the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, says 24 of the 151 workers involved - most of whom were based in Dungarvan - are still seeking employment.
The task force, chaired by the Waterford County Manager, Mr Donal Connolly, was established in December 1997 to assist employees faced with redundancy as a result of the merger and to attract new employment to the Dungarvan and Clonmel areas.
The reorganisation of the two food-processing giants into a single entity, now called Glanbia, resulted in 129 redundancies in Dungarvan and 22 in Clonmel. To date 106 of these - 89 in Dungarvan and 17 in Clonmel - have found alternative employment or started their own businesses.
In his introduction to the report Mr Connolly says Dungarvan, where Waterford Foods had its headquarters and major milk-processing operation, was a major loser in the merger. He was satisfied, however, that significant alternative employment had been and would be created in the town to offset the loss.
Glanbia has created 16 new jobs in the town through the transfer of its payroll, pensions and creditors' accounts to Dungarvan, bringing its total administrative staff there to 50. It has also decided to establish a shared services centre in the town which is to create 80 further administrative jobs there between October this year and June 2001.
The company also provided £5 million of a £7.5 million investment and development fund which will be used to assist a number of job-creation projects in the Dungarvan and Clonmel areas. The report says the projects identified could create 60 new jobs this year and 350 by 2003.