Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, and his senior officials to the House and commend him and the Department on introducing the Bill. I welcome this legislation which establishes a redundancy panel to make decisions, when required, on what are termed exceptional collective redundancies.

The Bill will provide for certain proposed collective redundancies to be referred to the panel and allows for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to take appropriate action. The Bill also amends previous legislation to update penalties and other aspects of the legislation. I commend the procedure for the appointment of members of the redundancy panel and the representation of the Government, IBEC and the ICTU on this panel.

This Bill is important because it closes the door on occurrences such as that which arose with Irish Ferries. In that case, the company was able to rely upon a rebate from the State of €4.3 million as a result of the dismissal of its staff and the employment of lower paid workers. The company benefitted greatly from this particular decision and that is why this Bill is so timely and appropriate. The Minister and his officials have taken quick action in this regard.

It is clear that a situation such as the Irish Ferries dismissals is different from smaller-scale or individual dismissals. Therefore, these dismissals should be resolved in a different way and this Bill provides for a resolution along these lines. It lays down the procedures for this and makes clear that a case will be referred to the panel only after other avenues have been explored.

I welcome the representation of different bodies on the redundancy panel. I feel strongly that this will provide a balanced overall view of each case on its own terms.

I also commend the Minister on other reforms on the upper age limit which he has included in this Bill which will remove ageism from the redundancy scheme. The Minister of State might outline the amount of funds available in the redundancy fund and indicate the condition of the fund at present.

Like Senator Coghlan, we all are concerned about the recent decisions to close successful industries and relocate them to Third World countries such as China, India and Singapore. Today Poland is gloating over the fact that it has secured some jobs which were successfully in our country. It is discouraging to think that new member states, which successfully applied for membership of the European Union which was voted on in the Nice treaty by ourselves, now exploit the fact they pay lower wages, charge lower taxes and attract companies which have been successful here and which have provided good employment for many in urban and rural areas. The day will come when they will rise to the level of the rest of the European Union and will find other countries pulling jobs from them.

The location of jobs is fluid. In this regard the Minister and the Department have a role to monitor companies to ensure there is no danger they will make with such decisions. This Bill particularly will discourage companies from trying to take advantage of the redundancy laws to date. It is galling that Irish Ferries benefited to an extent from its decision to employ workers on much lower wages and to exploit workers in that company which carries an Irish flag.

The Minister of State is anxious to get this Bill through the House and I certainly will not delay it. It is timely legislation and I commend him and his staff on putting it together. It includes many important provisions which are relevant to employees, employers, the Department and the State. It also includes the flexibility to extend the redundancy panel beyond a three-year period.

I note local authority members have not been excluded. I commend the Minister of State on that because, while it is normal practice to exclude Members of the Oireachtas and the European Parliament, many local authority members are well qualified to serve on this panel and they should not be precluded from doing so by virtue of their representative functions. Far too often, Bills have excluded the people who have given great service to public life. It is welcome that those who wish to make further contributions to the public are not excluded.

The Minister of State has played an important role with regard to the minimum wage. Workers should be pleased with the actions he has taken since his appointment and he has made another wise decision on this Bill. I wish him continued success and hope it will not be long before he returns to a future ministerial role after the general election.