Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 144: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of businesses in Cork city and county waiting on redundancy payments from her; the length of time they have been waiting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28032/09]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The specific information requested by the Deputy is not available to me however, the table outlines the number of redundancies notified to my Department for County Cork for the period 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009 and may be of interest to the Deputy.

Currently, the average time it takes to process rebate applications from employers filed online is 6 months while claims submitted by post are taking 7 months. In respect of lump sum payments paid directly to employees in instances where the employers are unable to pay the statutory redundancy entitlements, the current processing time, assuming all of the necessary supporting documentation is filed, is between 6 – 8 weeks.

Measures to deal with the huge influx of claims since January 2009 include: · the reassignment of 19.5 staff additional staff from other areas of the Department to the Redundancy Payments area since early 2009 with ongoing review of trends and demands;

· the prioritisation of the Department's overtime budget towards staff in Redundancy Payments Section to tackle the backlog outside normal hours;

· the establishment of a special call handling facility to deal with the huge volume of telephone calls from people and businesses who are naturally concerned about their payments, using the facilities and cooperation of the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA);

· The provision of better quality information relating to current processing times on the Department's website.