Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the first amendment, this is really a matter for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation because the legislation in regard to employment terms and conditions is a matter for that Department. I assume this is the primary reason the amendment was ruled out of order.

The Department of Social Protection took over the administration of the redundancy and insolvency payments over two years ago. The Senators will know the very hardworking staff in the Department of Social Protection have cleared what had become an enormous backlog. I know Senators Mooney, Moloney and others had dealt with quite a few difficult cases where getting redundancy proved to be a very long structure. My Department, which, as I said, now administers the scheme, has cleared the backlog and has developed IT to allow people to be paid redundancy and insolvency payments within a much faster timeframe, provided the various notifications have been given. As I said, however, the legislation is a matter for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and we do not have charge of it.

With regard to jobseeker's allowance and the requirement to be actively seeking work, it is important to note that persons who qualified for jobseeker's benefit and who are aged between 65 and 66 years are generally entitled to receive payments until the date on which they reach pensionable age.