Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 164: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide financial assistance to community and voluntary groups to assist with redundancy payments when such groups have to lay off employees or when particular programmes end; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12115/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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While my Department funds, both directly and indirectly, a number of community and voluntary groups through the various Programmes it operates, my Department is not, and never has been, the employer of staff in these groups. My Department therefore has no role in the internal operations of these groups and does not set the salary or the other terms and conditions of employment, including in relation to redundancy payments. This is a matter for the Groups concerned.

In the past, under the Community Development Programme, my Department has provided grant aid towards the costs of statutory redundancy payments in certain limited circumstances, and provided that the rebate from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation was refunded in full to the Department.