Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased that the Minister came in person to the House to deal with this important issue. The SICAP tendering process was meant to be announced tomorrow. If that is put back, more uncertainty arises for the workers, who do not know what is going to happen after the end of March. As the Minister knows, there are about 2,000 workers in this sector who are waiting for a decision on SICAP. The SICAP process was totally unsatisfactory from beginning to end and is going to lead to some very bad outcomes on the ground.

This evening I would like to concentrate on the issue of what is going to happen to people who are employed in the partnerships after 31 March. As Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh has said, there is a cut in the money. Can the Minister confirm how many jobs the Department estimates will be lost? Will the companies be given money to put a proper redundancy package in place in order that a proper voluntary redundancy scheme will be put in place for the workers? The uncertainty is very unsatisfactory. It is also interesting to look at the Labour Court decision of 4 December 2014, where it rightly points out that even though the Government is not technically the employer, standing back from the process and pretending to have nothing to do with it is somewhat like Hamlet without the prince. There is an obligation on the State to engage not only with the employers but with the employees to clarify what is going to happen to their jobs and, if there is going to be downsizing, how that will be approached and whether the companies will get money to facilitate fair redundancy packages, as one would expect in a situation like this.

See this speech in context