Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation if his attention has been drawn to any problems with employers using short-term lay-offs to avoid paying redundancy payments under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967-2007; his plans to address this anomaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8031/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has drawn my Department's attention to certain concerns about the lay-off provisions under the Redundancy payments Acts 1967- 2007. Congress has been advised to bring any concerns that it has in this area to the attention of the Minister for Social Protection together with any supporting evidence. The Minister for Social Protection has responsibility for the Redundancy Payments Acts, which include the lay-off provisions, since 1 January of this year.

Complaints received about alleged abuse of the lay-off provisions by an employer can be lodged with the Employment Appeals Tribunal under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2001 and Redundancy Payments Acts (using Form T1A). I can advise the Deputy that additional resources have recently been allocated to the Tribunal in order to address the difficulties caused by the level of its current workload resulting in backlogs in cases being heard.