Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 95: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the costs of redundancy rebates awarded to an airline (details supplied) for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18743/10]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 97: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the costs of redundancy rebates awarded to a company (details supplied) for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18747/10]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 98: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the costs of redundancy rebates awarded to a company (details supplied) for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18748/10]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 99: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the costs of redundancy rebates awarded to a company (details supplied) for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18749/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 97 to 99, inclusive, together.

I regret to advise the Deputy that I am precluded, by virtue of data protection considerations, to provide the Deputy with the company specific information he has requested. It has always been, and continues to be, my Department's policy and practice not to disclose details of redundancy rebate payments made in the case of specific companies.

For the Deputy's information, I set out in Tables 1 and 2 respectively the number of claims received by my Department in the years 2002 to 2009 and the amount of monies paid out of the Social Insurance Fund in those years.

Table 1: Actual Statutory Redundancies for years 2002 to 2009 and up to end April 2010

* Provisional figures

Table 2: Expenditure on Statutory Redundancies for years 2002 to 2009 and up to end April, 2010

(€000)

* Provisional figures

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 96: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the delay in the payment to employees of a company (details supplied) in Dublin 7. [18745/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

My Department administers the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in relation to redundancy matters on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. There are two types of payment made from the SIF – rebates to those employers who have paid statutory redundancy to eligible employees, and statutory lump sums to employees whose employers are insolvent and/or in receivership/liquidation.

I can confirm that my Department received a number of lump sum claims for the former employees of the company concerned on 12 February, 2010. These claims await processing. In respect of lump sum payments paid directly to employees, such as in this instance, the Section is, in general, processing claims dating from September 2009. In the interest of fairness and equity to all claimants, claims are dealt with in order of date of receipt.

The impact on business of the severe economic circumstances currently pertaining has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the level of Redundancy Payment claims lodged with my Department. This has impacted 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.

Efforts continue to be made by my Department to deliver more 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 in the Department in 2009 to alleviate the pressures on the Payments area include:

?almost doubling the number of staff through reassignment to a current level of 52 full time equivalents;

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

?establishment of a special call handling facility in NERA to deal with the huge volume of telephone calls from people and businesses concerned about their payments.

?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 existing outstanding tax liabilities which those employers owe to the Revenue Commissioners.

The backlog and waiting times remain at unacceptable levels. However, improvements are evident. I should point out that my Department has, in 2009, processed 50,664 claims, up 70% on 2008. During the period 1 January 2010 to 30 April, 2010, 23,593 claims were received and 27,592 were processed. In the year to date, inroads have been made on the backlog of claims on hand, which reduced from 41,168 at the end of January to 36,333 at the end of April 2010.

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.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 100: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the cost of redundancy rebates in 2009; the breakdown per employer when the total payment exceeded €0.5 million; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18751/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

My Department administers the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in relation to redundancy matters on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. There are two types of payment made from the SIF – rebates to those employers who have paid statutory redundancy to eligible employees, and statutory lump sums to employees whose employers are insolvent and/or in receivership/liquidation.

I can confirm that in respect of redundancy rebate claims in 2009, an amount of €247.89m was incurred by way of expenditure from the Social Insurance Fund in 2009. I regret that I am unable to provide the Deputy with the employer specific information he has requested as it is the Department's custom and practice not to release company specific information of this nature. However, I can advise the Deputy that in total, 33 companies received in excess of €0.5m by way of redundancy rebate payments from the Social Insurance Fund in 2009.