Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter and I am pleased the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, is in the House to deal with it because responsibility for the Dell element of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund was transferred from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to the Minister of State's Department a few months ago and he is directly responsible for it.

I raise this matter because I want a definite answer. The Dell redundant workers association was established in December 2009 following the announcement of a huge number of redundancies in Dell and in a number of related companies. Since then it has provided a service for redundant workers as well as lobbying for the fund to be set up and for the application to be submitted on behalf of Government. It has been doing this on a voluntary basis over the past year and has provided a huge service to its approximately 1,700 members. It is recognised as a social partner in the EGF project and is represented on the steering committee.

The Minister of State's predecessor in charge of this fund was the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary. On 1 February 2010, he advised the workers that any expenses legitimately incurred in respect of EGF-related activities would be reimbursed, especially since it was effectively the only organisation actively working EGF-related issues with the redundant workers. At that time, the EGF co-ordination unit had not been opened.

It subsequently submitted a spread sheet in April 2010 but was told the format was not appropriate. It resubmitted its accounts in accordance with Department regulations on 9 June 2010. It made frequent inquiries but it was not until 26 July 2010 that it was informed its accounts were not acceptable in their current format. Again, it got to work and had its accounts audited with the advice of the departmental office. It submitted another application on 22 September 2010, which is more than two months ago, and it still has not had any news about the funding.

This is very urgent because the association is in danger of having to close its office unless it gets this funding quickly. That would be a tragedy for the workers concerned. A large number of them come to see me. They are still trying to access support from the fund, whether for training, community employment schemes, higher education, setting up their own businesses, co-operative groups working to set up enterprises or for advice on social welfare and a variety of other matters. That group of workers has given huge support to all the people concerned. It informs people of their rights. There are still people who do not realise they are allowed to access the fund, in particular people in the other companies. The people in Dell were, by and large, aware of their rights but people in the other companies, whether down stream or up stream companies, did not know about their rights and would not have been able to get the kind of help needed were it not for this group.

It has done trojan work and is entitled to funding for the work it does. I hope the Minister of State will be able to clarify the matter. My colleague, Deputy Penrose, tabled a parliamentary question which was answered last Tuesday. The reply stated that expenditure claims are currently under examination. I hope there will be a successful conclusion to this application.

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