Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Department officials, Ms Breathnach and Ms Mulready, for attending the committee today. I very much welcome this small but important item of legislation that will have a real benefit and impact on those workers who are facing into a redundancy situation in the next number of months and, obviously, a very difficult time. I am conscious that while the Department has responsibility for the legislation, the Department of Social Protection effectively will be administrating the scheme, if I understand it correctly. I have a number of questions which the witnesses may or may not be able to answer on that but it is important that we get clarity in the answers to these questions.

How quickly will an application be dealt with? What safeguards are in place to ensure that once an application is made by an employer or directly by an employee it will be dealt with quickly? I am not clear on the time it will take to process the administration of a payment. There would be a concern there might be a delay between the payment by the employer relative to the payment by the State.

Regarding the circumstance in which an employee directly applies to the scheme, Senator Gavan spoke of a number of employers refusing to engage. I seek clarity on the other circumstances in which an employee would be able to directly apply to the scheme because there is a degree of understandable confusion and nervousness about the process. It was suspended and that suspension has just been lifted. There is a degree of confusion as to what workers are entitled to.