Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 58: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason a company (details supplied) which has to let staff go and has submitted the relevant RP50 forms to her Department for an appropriate rebate in respect of the redundancy payments has been informed that it could take up to between five and six months for same to be paid out; if in this context she will take immediate steps to have the appropriate rebate payments paid out to the employer involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43254/08]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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According to the records available to my Department, the company in question made two workers redundant on 31 October 2008 and submitted the relevant RP50 forms manually on 4 November 2008 seeking a rebate of 60% in respect of the statutory amount paid. The customer service targets for processing and paying redundancy claims are indicated on my Department's website and indicate that all correctly completed Redundancy claims filed on-line will be given priority. In normal circumstances, the waiting period for payment of claims filed on-line is 6 weeks. Claims received by post can take at least 10 weeks. All claims are processed in order of receipt with priority been given to claims filed on-line and lump-sum payments.

While we endeavour to meet the targets stated, we are currently unable to service those turnaround times due to the significant influx of claims in recent months. At the end of October, a total of 32,076 redundancy claims were received which contrasts sharply with the level of 21,360 for the corresponding period in 2007 in terms of a 50% increase. Given the steep increases experienced in the rate of redundancy claims in the current year, customer service targets are under severe pressure but they are not at the level quoted by the Deputy. Currently, a 10-week timeframe is, in general, being achieved for claims submitted on-line and, manual claims are being dealt with within 16 weeks.