Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Skill sets are crucial and the Minister has indicated that persons with high skill levels are much more likely to find alternative employment. It could easily be the case that individuals working at the retail end as cashiers could be affected and retraining and upskilling would be crucial to their job prospects. May I take it that on completion of the profiling of the staff to be laid off, discussions will take place immediately with training agencies to ensure those affected will be assisted? It would be better to deal with these issues quickly.

Have discussions with representatives of the covered institutions taken place on potential redundancies? The Government has direct involvement, as it is either the guarantor or main shareholder in these institutions. Does the Minister have any information on the discussions which have taken place between the covered institutions and the Government on potential redundancies in the wider financial sector?

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