Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 81: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the length of time employers have to wait to receive their rebate of payment of statutory redundancy; the maximum waiting time for payment; the number of staff that are allocated to this task; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29381/09]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 88: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her target for the payment of redundancy rebates to employers following the receipt of a correctly completed return in writing and electronically; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29595/09]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 81 and 88 together.

Currently, the average time it takes to process rebate applications from employers filed online is six months while claims submitted by post are taking seven months. The Redundancy Payments Section of my Department is currently processing applications filed online from December 2009 and, those submitted by post from November 2009. In respect of lump sum payments paid directly to employees in instances where employers are unable to pay the statutory redundancy entitlements, the current processing time, assuming all of the necessary supporting documentation is filed, is between six to eight weeks.

Given the unprecedented increase in redundancy payment claims lodged with my Department in late 2008 and, to date in 2009, it has proved impossible to maintain the customer service targets that previously obtained. The scale of the challenge is evident from the statistics for the first half of 2009 showing the number of new claims lodged with my Department at 42,724 which exceeds the claims lodged for the full year 2008 (40,607) and 2008 was, of itself, an exceptional year as compared with earlier years when claims received were of the order of 25,000 or less.

Efforts have and continue to be made by the Tánaiste and I to deliver acceptable turnaround processing times for redundancy payments given the difficulties that this gives rise to for both individual employees and the business community. Measures already taken include: · the reassignment of 19.7 additional staff (full time equivalents) from other areas of the Department to the Redundancy Payments area since early 2009 with ongoing review of trends and demands; the current number of staff serving in the Redundancy Payments Section in terms of full time equivalents is 40.2; · 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; · Engagement with the Revenue Commissioners to facilitate the offset of redundancy rebate payments by employers against outstanding tax liabilities with the Revenue Commissioners.

The Tánaiste and I are arranging for the urgent reallocation within the Department of further additional resources to the area as well as the possibility of securing additional resources from other Government Departments.