Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will bring forward legislation to remove the provisions which disqualify those over the age of 66 from the terms of the Redundancy Acts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12178/05]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Traditionally, the upper age limit for eligibility for redundancy payment was the same as the pensionable age within the meaning of the Social Welfare Acts. In 1971 the upper age limit was 70, in line with the then old age pension age of 70. This was revised downwards by the Redundancy Payments Act 1979 to 66 years, which was the new pensionable age set out in the Social Welfare Act.

The Redundancy Review Group report of July 2002, which produced recommendations for the updating of statutory redundancy legislation, considered that increasing the upper age limit of 66 for redundancy qualification purposes would not be a priority in the short term if resources were scarce. It could be argued, therefore, that the age cap should remain unchanged to maintain consistency with the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2001 and the Employment Equality Act 1998.

The group recognised, however, that the labour force is becoming older and that participation in the labour force by older people, if desired, should be facilitated. Accordingly, it was recommended that consideration should be given in the medium term to removing the age cap or raising the age cap in conjunction with similar changes to unfair dismissals, equality and social and family legislation, as recommended by the Equality Authority.

On 18 July 2004, the upper age limit of 66 for bringing claims under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2001 was removed by the Equality Act 2004. However, the Unfair Dismissals Acts will still not apply to dismissed employees who, at the date of dismissal, had reached the normal retirement age in that employment, that is if it is the policy in an employment to retire employees at a certain age, then the new provisions would not apply.

There are no plans at present to remove the upper age limit in respect of statutory redundancy. However, in the light of the evolution of age-related legislative provisions, it will be necessary to review the age-related provisions of the Redundancy Payments Acts. This will have to be done prior to making legislative proposals for submission to Government. In February 2003, the Government approved the provision of a sum of €1 million from the social insurance fund towards modernising and e-enabling redundancy payments. The redundancy payments section of my Department is currently heavily involved in a project to modernise the existing system. Work on this project is progressing on target and it is expected that the e-enabled redundancy IT system will be ready for operation by the end of May 2005. It will take a number of months for both staff and members of the public to become totally familiar with the new system, and it is not envisaged that any new project, including the holding of a review of the age-related provisions of the Redundancy Payments Acts, will commence in advance of such familiarisation.