Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the Deputy's suggestions and will take them on board and look through them because, again, we are trying to draw on international experience referenced by others. In respect of employees taking out insurance for redundancy, the State does provide that insurance in terms of statutory redundancy and every other entitlement such as holiday pay and outstanding wages. The State does step in. The Social Insurance Fund is available but, again, the first call is the assets of a company to pay out what the employees are entitled to. If the company cannot do that and there are no assets to do that, the State steps in. If the State steps in, it also tries to pursue any remaining assets because it is the taxpayer who is stepping in. The draw on the fund this year is up to €4 billion. A lot of money is being paid out.