Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 128, 141, 159 and 196 together.

In December 2005, agreement was reached between SIPTU, the Seamen's Union of Ireland and Irish Ferries on the number of redundancies to be effected, voluntary severance packages to those workers taking redundancy, the terms and conditions of those workers opting to remain with Irish Ferries, the terms and conditions of agency workers for a specified period and the maintenance of existing arrangements. Following this agreement, 447 employees were made redundant. Irish Ferries applied for a rebate under the statutory redundancy scheme on 17 February 2006.

The first point to note is that the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967-2003 provide for entitlements for workers whose jobs are lost in certain circumstances and corresponding obligations on employers to pay statutory redundancy to the workers. When employers pay statutory redundancy to their workers in accordance with the Acts, they are entitled to rebates from the social insurance fund. All decisions to pay a redundancy rebate must be based on the facts of the case and the Acts. There is no room for the exercise of ministerial preference or the consideration of matters extraneous to the redundancy legislation.

When the rebate application was received in my Department it was, as is the usual practice, examined thoroughly. This gave rise to doubts as to the eligibility of the application under section 7 of the Acts. The issue of eligibility was referred to the Office of the Attorney General for legal advice. A number of complex legal issues requiring further information from Irish Ferries arose at several stages during consideration of the matter.

The issue was considered in detail on the basis of the legal advice received and the facts of the case and it was determined that Irish Ferries was legally entitled to receive a rebate in accordance with the Acts. As yet, no payments have been made, but extensive work on checking all claims has commenced. It is anticipated that a rebate in the order of €4.3 million will be paid to Irish Ferries by the end of February.

It is not possible at this stage to provide average statutory redundancy amounts received by the employees, as all claims have not been checked in my Department. Payment of statutory redundancy is a matter for the employer in the first instance, under which each employee is entitled to two weeks' pay per year of service up to a maximum of €600 plus a bonus week. Ex gratia payments are a matter for the employer and employee and my Department has no involvement in such arrangements.

There has been no written or verbal contact between Irish Ferries and my office or that of my colleague the Minister of State with special responsibility for trade and commerce, Deputy Michael Ahern. Searches of my diary and the representations tracking system in my office have not revealed any record of contacts between the Minister's office and Irish Ferries in the past three months.

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