Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 110: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on the slow but increasing levels of unemployment and the continuing closure of manufacturing and assembly enterprises here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29595/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The latest employment data published by the Central Statistics Office indicates that the numbers in employment grew by almost 68,000 in the year to Quarter 3 2007 bringing the total number in employment to 2,140,900 (Quarterly National Household Survey 15 November 2007). The seasonally adjusted data indicates that the unemployment rate decreased from 4.5% to 4.4% in the 12-month period and a similar decrease was recorded between the second and third quarters of 2007 when unemployment fell by 3,000. In terms of manufacturing, the latest CSO release on Industrial Employment (31 October 2007) indicates a small decline of 500 in the numbers employed in manufacturing industry in Quarter 2 2007 relative to the same period in 2006.

Job losses are always regrettable, and neither the Government nor I ever dismiss the singularity of the impact at a personal and community level, of factory closures and their attendant job losses. As the figures indicate though, such losses as occur, do so in the midst of an historically phenomenal period of job creation; with nearly 6 hundred thousand more people in employment than 10 years ago. Many of the job losses incurred in the period were situated in low value added manufacturing and these losses have been more than offset by jobs created in higher value added manufacturing and the financial and international services sectors.

Ireland is no longer a low cost economy and manufacturers in particular are facing increased competition from producers in lower cost economies. It is the case that manufacturing firms in the more traditional sectors have, in recent years, operated against a backdrop of significantly declining external demand, downward price pressure, and an increasingly competitive international environment together with upward pressure on costs and the strengthening of the Euro against our key trading partner currencies.

The model of manufacturing in developed countries is changing and Irish enterprises are adapting to those changes and engaging in higher value added activities in order to compete in the global marketplace. This has been achieved as a result of increased productivity, technology levels and sophisticated skills of Irish employees. Irish manufacturing has performed quite strongly in recent years and manufacturing production by volume has increased by 35% overall between 2000 and 2006 which is significantly above the performance of many of our European counterparts.

One of our main tasks is to ensure that Ireland remains an attractive place to do business, and to support the development of economic competencies higher up the value chain. In that regard, the Programme for Government contains a range of commitments focussed on maintaining and enhancing our framework competitive conditions, and promoting new areas of competitive advantage, including the development of our R&D base, investment in physical and communications infrastructures, and promoting tertiary education and lifelong learning. Likewise the National Development Plan also commits the Government to provide investment specifically to support the development of the indigenous and FDI enterprise base in addition to NDP investment in infrastructure and skills.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of redundancies notified to his Department to date in 2007; the way this compares with the same period in each year from 2002 to 2006; his views on the reported increase in the number of redundancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31134/07]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The numbers of actual redundancies notified to my Department for the period 1 January to 31 October for the years 2002-2007 are as follows:

This compares with the full year figures for the years 2002-2006 which were:

These figures show the number of employees who actually qualified for statutory redundancy lump sum payments. They do not reflect those who lost their jobs with less than two years service in an employment.

I have no control over the number of redundancies that occur at any given time. The number of redundancies over the period in question have fluctuated year on year. The final figure for 2007 will be available early in the New Year. The number of people in employment has increased significantly since 2002. Redundancy is a risk associated with employment and the risk has increased from an average annual risk prior to 2002 of 0.787% to 1.34% for the period 2002 to 2006.