Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and bring forward this matter in the light of a letter I received recently from the Letterkenny and District Trade Union Council which seeks to have the Redundancy Payments Act amended immediately to provide in cases of redundancy for a minimum of three weeks' pay per year of service without reference to age. The legislation currently provides for half a week's pay per year of service for those under 41 years of age and a full week's pay per year of service thereafter.

I refer to this matter in the light of what has happened in County Donegal, but without wishing to pre-empt doomsday. We have lost many factory jobs in recent years, an example of which is the closure of Fruit of the Loom at Inishowen, Milford and Raphoe. Given the economic climate further redundancies may be imminent. The payments currently provided for are not acceptable and the people to whom I have spoken who have been made redundant agree that they are insufficient given present circumstances.