Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is a very difficult legal area. I will outline some of the difficulties. We have reformed the insolvency payments scheme. People are now paid their entitlements very rapidly. It has been transformed since the payments were taken over by the Department of Social Protection. However, the law is, in general, not in the remit of my Department but in that of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. A more appropriate approach might be to widen the remit of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement so that proceedings can be taken. However, in the case of a very small firm - and I do not know what is involved in the cases to which the Deputy refers - the sums of money involved may be very small. They might be €50, €100 or a few hundred euro. Both the principle and the sum are very important to the people who are owed money but to go to the High Court for a hearing would cost something of the order of €20,000 or €25,000. In addressing this, we must find a sensible and proportionate approach which does not have negative knock-on consequences for workers' other rights.

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