Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Some 32 Vita Cortex workers have been involved in a sit-in in Cork since 16 December which arose from a dispute with their employer over redundancy payments, as Deputy Adams pointed out. The workers seek severance payments of 2.9 weeks pay per year of service, inclusive of statutory redundancy, in line with previous redundancy deals in that company.

In the interest of achieving a resolution to the dispute, which is obviously of concern to everybody, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, urged both parties to avail of the industrial relations mechanisms available in this State as soon as possible with a view to the possibility of bringing a conclusion to it. Officials from the Minister's Department were in contact with the workers' union representatives in an attempt to clarify the issues involved and to make them aware that the industrial relations mechanism of the State was available to them so that they might be assisted to resolve that dispute.

As Deputy Adams is aware, the Labour Relations Commission invited both parties to meet in Cork on Tuesday, 17 January to clarify the facts of the situation and, against that background, to explore with both parties the potential to move it forward. The meeting adjourned and reconvened on Friday, 20 January. Those talks adjourned on 20 January and there was no plan to reconvene. According to the Labour Relations Commission, it was unable to find a basis for agreement between the two parties involved. The Labour Relations Commission has confirmed that it will maintain contact with both parties and that if an opportunity should arise for it to be of any further assistance in this serious matter and in moving the situation forward, it will be prepared to get involved again.

The absence of an agreement on the payment of extra statutory severance payments for the workers is without prejudice to the arrangements being made by the Department of Social Protection to process the applications made for payment of statutory redundancies to the workers concerned. I can inform Deputy Adams and the House that I understand the Vita Cortex workers submitted 34 applications online on 22 December 2011. Hard copies and associated correspondence and papers were received on 4 January of this year.

Statutory straightforward redundancy claims submitted since October 2011 have generally been processed for payment within six to eight weeks. This can vary considerably depending on the complexity of the claims but on the basis of the current processing times, I would expect that the Vita Cortex claims will be processed by 6 February.

The position is that the Labour Relations Commission has made it clear to both sides that if it can be of any further assistance in resolving this dispute, it is there to assist if it can.

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