Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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818. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount paid under the redundancy payment scheme and under previous similar schemes in each year of their operation in tabular form; and the amount recovered by her Department. [12940/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Entitlement to a redundancy payment is defined under the Redundancy Payments Act.  It is the employer’s responsibility to pay statutory redundancy payments to eligible employees. 

In situations where an employer is unable to pay these entitlements due to financial difficulties or insolvency an application for payment under the Redundancy Payments Scheme may be submitted to the Department.  The Department will make the statutory redundancy payment to eligible employees on behalf of the employer.

The Redundancy Payments Scheme is funded from the Social Insurance Fund (SIF).  When such a redundancy payment is made from the fund, a debt is raised against the employer.  The Department will engage with employers to establish their financial situation on a case by case basis and seeks to agree a debt recovery plan, including repayments by instalment, where appropriate.  This ensures that the scheme takes into account both an employer's ability to pay redundancy payments and that the Social Insurance Fund can be reimbursed in due course. 

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation administered the scheme up until 2011 when responsibility for same transferred to this Department.  Up to 2011, the scheme provided a rebate of 60 per cent to employers who provided statutory redundancy payments to their employees.  This was reduced to 15 percent in 2012 and abolished from 2013.  Rebates to employer is included in total expenditure but rebates are not recoverable and the table below reflects the differences.

Expenditure and recoveries for the redundancy payments scheme from 2010 - 2018 as recorded in the Social Insurance Fund financial statements is as follows, the figures for 2019 are estimates: