Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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115. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment if State redundancies will be available from 1 December 2020 when the bar on redundancies expires for workers particularly in the bar trade who do not have the prospect of returning to their previous jobs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39657/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In March 2020 the Government introduced an emergency amendment to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 which effectively suspends an employee’s entitlement to claim redundancy from their employer following certain periods of lay-off or short-time work due to Covid-19. The Government was concerned that the financial impact of significant redundancy claims at this time would have a serious impact on the potential for businesses, and the economy as a whole, to recover which in turn could result in significant insolvency and bankruptcy situations, with further permanent job losses.

The suspension of these redundancy provisions has been extended to 31st March 2021. This was a difficult decision for the Government to make and I know it will be disappointing for those employees who are experiencing uncertainty and who were hoping to claim redundancy from their employers before the end of the year. But in making this decision, we had to consider the need to ensure businesses survive and that permanent job losses are avoided as much as possible.

It is also considered that an extension of the end-date continues to be important for employees to ensure that they have a continued link to their job and a pathway to return. The Pandemic Unemployment Payment will remain open until the end of March 2021 in order to support affected employees as will the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme.

All other redundancy provisions remain unchanged and in force. If an employer is going to make an employee redundant, protections such as notice periods for redundancy and the payment of a redundancy lump-sum to the affected employee still apply and the existing suite of employment rights legislation remains in place.

There is no provision to limit the application of the emergency measure to specific business sectors.