Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No 95 of 17 February 2010 if he will provide an update on this matter; when the outstanding moneys will be awarded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15207/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department administers the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in relation to both the Redundancy and Insolvency Payments Schemes on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. As advised in my reply to the Deputy on 17th February 2010, I can confirm that my Department has received claims for the former employees of the company concerned under both Schemes all of which await processing.

In relation to the Redundancy Payments Scheme, my Department received six statutory lump sum claims over the period October/November 2009 for the former employees of the company concerned claiming inability to pay the redundancy entitlements on behalf of the employer. In respect of lump sum payments paid directly to employees, such as in this instance, the Redundancy Payments Section is now, in general, processing claims dating from August 2009. In order to be fair to all claimants, claims are processed in order of date of receipt.

In relation to Insolvency Payments, the current processing time for claims is 14 weeks and, in general, the Insolvency Payments Section is processing claims received in January/February 2010. In the current case, my Department received applications from the liquidator in respect of holiday Pay for 10 former employees of this company in the period November 2009 to February 2010. No payment has been made to date as two of the claims remain under query with the liquidator. Insolvency Payments section will continue to correspond with the liquidator in this case in order to finalise the claims.

As previously explained, the impact on business of the severe economic circumstances currently pertaining has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the level of Redundancy and Insolvency Payment claims lodged with my Department. This is impacting significantly on the capacity to maintain the customer service targets that previously obtained. The scale of the challenge on the Redundancy side is evident from the statistics that show incoming redundancy claims in 2009 amounted to 77,001 which represents a threefold increase over the level of claims lodged in 2007 and earlier years. In 2007, claims received were of the order of 25,000.

In the case of Insolvency Payments, the downturn in the economy has resulted in a significant rise in the level of company receiverships and insolvencies. Consequently, an increasing number of claims are being submitted to the Insolvency Payments Section, with 20,411 new claims received in 2009 – an increase of 78% over the corresponding period in 2008. My officials endeavour to process all claims as quickly as possible and claims are dealt with in order of date of receipt. The Section is constantly endeavouring to achieve earlier completion and payment dates. In the first quarter of 2010 Insolvency Payments Section received on average 2300 new claims per month.

Efforts continue to be made by my Department to deliver more acceptable turnaround processing times for both Redundancy and Insolvency payments given the difficulties that this gives rise to for both individual employees and the business community. Measures already taken during 2009 include the deployment of additional resources to those areas and the prioritization of overtime in those areas.

The backlog and waiting times remain at unacceptable levels. However, improvements are evident. The number of claims processed and paid by the Redundancy Payments Section in 2009 amounted to 50,664, an increase of 70% over 2008. In the first quarter of 2010, my Department processed 21,122 claims - an increase of over 151% on the previous first quarter in 2009. Claims processed in the month of March 2010 was the highest ever achieved in the Section with 8,168 claims processed in the month. The number of claims processed and paid by the Insolvency Payments Section in 2009 amounted to 20,172 an increase of 108% over 2008.

Responsibility for the payment of redundancy and insolvency payments is due to be transferred to the Department of Social Protection. The intention is to transfer by Government order, the payment functions arising under the Redundancy Payment and Insolvency Payment schemes. In transferring the functions between Departments, it is the intention that this will operate seamlessly and without any adverse impact on the service levels being experienced by individuals or the business community awaiting payment of redundancy claims.