John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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135. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of companies that his Department has covered costs for including workers' redundancy payments and other insolvency costs when that same company has become insolvent or dissolved in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22417/17]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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136. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of staff redundancies that have been paid by his Department in circumstances in which a company has become insolvent or dissolved in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22418/17]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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137. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of companies that are operating in circumstances in which his Department had stepped in to cover costs including workers' redundancy payments and other insolvency costs in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22419/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 135 to 137, inclusive, together.

The purpose of the redundancy payments scheme is to compensate employees for the loss of their jobs when the employer is unable to pay statutory redundancy due to financial difficulties or insolvency. The purpose of the insolvency payments scheme is to pay outstanding wage-related entitlements due to employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer.

Statistics on payments under the two schemes are recorded by individual claim not by company. The total number of redundancy and insolvency claims from 2011 to March 2017 is outlined in the following table.

When a payment is made from the redundancy and insolvency payments schemes from the Social Insurance Fund a debt is raised against the employer, which is reported in the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) financial accounts. The total employer debt to the Social Insurance Fund at 31 December, 2016 stood at €459 million.

As of 30 March, 2017 there were 13,400 employers with outstanding debt to the SIF (annual figures are not available). 3,453 of these are companies which have not filed for insolvency and appear to be continuing to trade. Three-quarters of the debt value is in respect of insolvent companies.

Redundancy Payments Schemes

Total claims received

*The figures for 2011 and 2012 include rebate claims.