Mr. Kevin Duffy:

I will deal with the second part of Deputy Bruton's question. I understand exactly the point he is making. It was something we considered.

First of all, a simple way for the employer to address it is to engage in the consultation required. If the employer does that, then it can argue the case. If there is a claim for enhanced redundancy that the employer believes is not justified, the employer can contest it. It may well end up in the Labour Court and an adjudication will be made. However, it was circumstances in which the employer seeks to shift the responsibility onto the State that recommendation No. 4 in the report was intended to address. The suggestion was that if an award is made under the Protection of Employment Act pursuant to the proposal or provision we suggested of increasing the maximum amount of compensation that can be awarded, then the Minister would effectively stand in the shoes of the employees and would be able to recover the amount paid out of the Social Insurance Fund against any assets the company had or may have transferred. That was intended to ensure the Social Insurance Fund would only pick up the tab if there were genuinely no funds available to meet the contractual entitlements of the workers.