Mr. Kevin Duffy:

I do not have a preferred option. The report was prepared for the Department and two Ministers. We did what we were asked to do and thereafter it is a matter for the Ministers and the Department. I certainly do not have a view as to what should be done on foot of the report.

With regard to a preferred option, I am not entirely clear what the Deputy had in mind. The employment law proposals are all part of a package. One cannot have one without the other while implementing one part of it and not implementing the other would either not make sense or would make it incapable of operation.

The fundamental proposal was that in situations where the employees are deprived of an opportunity to negotiate enhanced redundancy terms they had a legitimate expectation to, they would bring a claim under the Protection of Employment Act through the statutory mechanism of taking redress, which could be based on the loss of a contractual or quasi-contractual entitlement to enhanced redundancy payment and then there is a provision for the recovery of that award against the Social Insurance Fund if it could not be paid by the liquidator.