Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when additional moneys will be awarded to former employees of IFI. [24064/04]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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ICI and the State, the shareholders in IFI, while there was no legal obligation to do so, established a special fund with almost €24.5 million to provide ex gratia severance payments to the former employees of IFI. All applications from employees to the ex gratia fund of €24.5 million have now been processed. Payments from the fund were made in accordance with the basis for distribution determined by the trustee of the fund, which has been endorsed by a ballot open to all employees. In addition, all claims for statutory redundancy and other statutory entitlements, that have been established, have been processed.

The liquidator has also advised me that, based on legal advice received, he has admitted, as unsecured creditors in the liquidation, claims from the employees of the company to have entitlements to enhanced redundancy payments. It is estimated that these claims increase the total value of unsecured creditors compared with the statement of affairs produced by the board in November 2002 by more than €60 million, though any dividend payable to the workers concerned will be reduced by the amounts received from the ex gratia fund of €24.5 million provided by the shareholders. It is expected that these additional claims will have the effect of reducing the prospective dividend to unsecured creditors generally. It must be emphasised that the amount to be paid in due course in respect of such claims is a matter solely for determination by the liquidator.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will take action to rectify the situation whereby former workers at the Irish Fertiliser subsidiary (details supplied) in Belfast received inferior severance packages, particularly with respect to pensions, following the closure of that plant compared to their counterparts at the IFI plants in Carlow and Cork which closed at the same time. [24084/04]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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ICI and the State, the shareholders in IFI, while there was no legal obligation to do so, established a special fund with almost €24.5 million to provide ex gratia severance payments to the former employees of IFI. All applications from employees to the ex gratia fund of €24.5 million have now been processed. Payments from the fund were made were in accordance with the basis for distribution determined by the trustee of the fund, which has been endorsed by a ballot open to all employees. The basis for distribution was the same for all employees regardless of location. In addition, employees would have had certain statutory redundancy and other entitlements. While these would have varied somewhat, reflecting the different arrangements in the two jurisdictions, I do not believe that this resulted in significant variances in overall severance packages received.

As regards pensions, I am aware that employees based in Belfast, who are deferred pensioners of the Richardsons pension fund, are likely to receive much reduced pension entitlements and that the staff in question are understandably aggrieved about this position. The specific financial position of the Richardsons fund appears to have arisen primarily from a combination of the statutory rules which apply on the winding up of a pension fund in the UK and a shortfall in the assets of the Belfast fund compared with its liabilities as a result of the fund trustees' investment strategy coupled with a significant fall in the equities market.

I understand that the UK Government has announced proposals to deal with the issue of pension shortfalls arising from insolvencies but I am not aware of the impact, if any, this may have on the shortfall in the Richardsons scheme. In addition, I understand that the trustees of the Richardsons scheme have submitted a claim to the liquidator of IFI, though the status of this claim has not yet been established.

While I have the utmost sympathy for the plight of the members affected by the shortfall that has arisen in the scheme, I am satisfied that the Irish Government does not have any obligations in respect of the shortfall which the pension scheme faces and I do not see any basis on which we could reasonably be expected to make good the shortfall involved.