James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In these tough times nobody wants to see anybody lose their job. However, on behalf of the Department I must point out a number of facts. Tipperary Hostel Limited was the employer. All the JI participants were offered similar, alternative positions with the same terms and conditions. No one was made redundant. Only one of the JI participants opted to continue on the programme. The redundancy paid was only statutory redundancy, but the JI participants can now seek enhanced redundancy similar to that available to other community employment workers. All payments of enhanced redundancy to employees on job initiative or other programmes reduces the amount of funding available for the programme and thus leads to a reduction in the overall number of participants. Currently, there are 1,256 participants on the jobs initiative programme.

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