Responding to "the aggressive actions of Tara Mines management in their dispute with workers" Sinn Féin TD, Peadar Tóibín, said: "Firstly management break a wage agreement, that is not nine months old, which was to run until 2014.

"Then they unilaterally put the workers on protective notice before LRC negotiations concluded. Now they have said that if the ten per cent wage cut is not agreed to by workers today, they will put the mine into ‘care and maintenance' by this Friday, not allowing the workers back after that until there is a 25% decrease in wages.

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"All this has happened while the workers have fully engaged with the labour relations resolutions process and have offered management competitiveness and efficiency solutions.

"Last week I raised the Tara Mines management threat of imminent temporary closure in the Dáil with the Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Natural Resources Richard Bruton.

"Minister's department needs to engage with management to try and resolve the situation. Tara Mines is one of the largest employers in County Meath, an area that has otherwise become a desert for inward investment.

"I also spoke with the Minister for Communications, Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitt on this issue. Tara Mines is in negotiations with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on the issue of licences for the extraction of new ore bodies in the locality and of royalties."

(CD/GK)