§ Mr. Duffyasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what Government assistance is being provided to maintain employment at the Tilgman Keramic plant in Londonderry.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThis company recently became insolvent and unable to continue in business, thus making 35 people redundant. As the factory is located in Londonderry, which has one of the higher levels of unemployment in Northern Ireland, it was considered important to hold the nucleus of the trained workforce together and enable them to continue in operation while efforts were made to find a way of maintaining their employment. Accordingly the Government appointed a receiver to the company on 30th January 1976 and agreed to provide extra-statutory grants of up to £17,000 to underwrite the losses incurred during the first two months of the receivership so as to allow time to try to find a purchaser.