I have already mentioned to the House the fact that the IDA still targets large factories for County Donegal. However, we do not have the infrastructure to accommodate them. There are no provisions to implement infrastructural improvements and no funding available for large-scale road projects or broadband connectivity. To take employment seriously in Donegal – the county with the highest rate of unemployment as all political parties attest – we must reconsider our approach. The IDA and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment must seriously look at finding the best way forward to achieve job sustainability. It has been proven that large-scale factories do not work in County Donegal. I have already proposed that we examine the promotion of indigenous industry to harness and foster local job creation. If we do this, we will avoid having to speak constantly of redundancy payments and job losses, as is the case at the moment.

Tonight in this Chamber I reiterate the demand of Letterkenny and District Trade Union Council for a change in the legislation because in the current economic climate its insufficient provisions constitute an embarrassment to those who have put in years of service. They are entitled to compensation.

In April 2002 the Government established a review group in the context of social partnership to examine the operation of the scheme to ensure it best meets the requirements of employers and employees. The group consisted of representatives of the social partners, including IBEC, the CIF, the ICTU, the Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance, Social and Family Affairs, and Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which provided its chair and secretariat. The terms of reference of the review group included a review of the operation of the scheme, which is funded from the social insurance fund and operates on the basis of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2001. It was also asked to identify the legislative, administrative and systemic requirements of a more effective, efficient and simple customer-service driven scheme adapted to an e-government environment. The group was further required to examine the benefit of developing options for Government and social partner consideration and report to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment within four months with recommendations and costings of the various proposals.

The Redundancy Review Group commenced its work in April 2002 and the Government considered the report last week. The report has now been published. The conclusions of the group are that agreement has been reached in a wide range of policy and administrative issues which will contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation of the scheme.

Policy issues that were agreed include the treatment of older workers, the insurability requirement, a ceiling on wages, qualification period, determination of weekly pay, non-reckonable service, employees working abroad, fines and penalties and the link between redundancy and training.

Administrative issues that were agreed include the rounding of years of service, forms used in the administration of the scheme and the need for a new computer system. To give effect to these efficiency measures the Government has agreed to prepare legislation that will reflect the conclusions of the Redundancy Review Group and other minor changes in redundancy legislation and to proceed with planning a new IT system, which will implement the legislative changes proposed by the review group and make the delivery of the redundancy scheme more efficient by maximising the use of e-government.

Agreement could not be reached within the group on a range of improvements in the level of benefits payable under the scheme. The ICTU has reactivated its campaign for improved benefits and will vigorously push for this in the next round of social partnership discussions.

The Redundancy Review Group agreed that customer service and administrative efficiency should result from an e-government approach to service delivery. This will require building such an approach into the proposed legislation and supporting IT. The measures identified by the Redundancy Review Group are an integrated package, requiring that legislation and associated IT delivery systems should be developed in an integrated manner to deliver efficiencies.

On foot of the work of the Redundancy Review Group, costings have been developed and shared with the social partners and relevant Departments on the full range of policy and benefit options. As a result informed analysis and costings are now available to Government and the social partners in the context of post-PPF negotiations. The Government hopes that the analysis developed by the Redundancy Review Group will facilitate agreement in the post-PPF negotiations on the level of statutory redundancy payments.