John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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54. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the interactions he and his Department have had with the employees who have recently lost their jobs in a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26456/23]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the interactions he and his Department have had with the employees who have recently lost their jobs in a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26457/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 55 together.

Firstly, I want to express my sympathy to all workers facing redundancy. My Department has received correspondence from and on behalf of employees affected by these redundancies, and I appreciate that this is a very difficult situation for them.

Under the Protection of Employment Act 1977, an employer proposing a collective redundancy is obliged to engage in an information and consultation process of at least 30 days with employees’ representatives. Consultations must take place at least 30 days before the first notice of dismissal is made and the law requires employers to engage in a consultation process with a view to reaching an agreement.

The companies in question are IDA client companies. Where its client companies are reducing headcount through redundancies, IDA Ireland, as a matter of course, works with those companies to understand the skills profile of impacted staff. Those profiles are then shared with clients of both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland that are hiring and may be looking for similar skills.

The State also supports all workers who face job losses through the Intreo service of the Department of Social Protection who can assist in relation to income and employment supports where needed, including helping with appropriate training and development opportunities.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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56. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the interactions he and his Department have had with a company (details supplied) following the recent redundancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26458/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 23 March 2023, the Accenture CEO announced that the company would be cutting 2.5% of its global workforce, or 19,000 people. In her communication, she stated that while Accenture continues to hire to support its strategic growth priorities during 2023, actions were needed to streamline operations and transform "non-billable" corporate functions in order to reduce costs.

My Department received a notification of proposed collective redundancies from Accenture on 23 March 2023. It is important to note that not all proposed redundancies result in actual redundancies, as employers negotiate with their workforce to restructure the business and may find alternative solutions during the 30-day consultation period. The latest information available to my Department is that the downsizing in Accenture in Ireland may be less than originally proposed.

Government’s first priority when such announcements are made are the workers impacted and we mobilise the agencies of the State to assist employees facing redundancy. In that regard, my officials have confirmed to me that IDA Ireland are engaging regularly with Irish and corporate Management in the company to keep fully abreast of developments. IDA has also been actively engaged with Accenture in Dublin and Cork, in recent times, regarding upskilling and the potential for further RD&I activity to be carried out in Ireland. Throughout IDA’s engagement with Accenture the company has reaffirmed its focus on strategic growth and innovation in Ireland.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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57. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the interactions he and his Department have had with a company (details supplied) following the recent redundancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26459/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In March of this year, Meta's CEO outlined a global restructuring and downsizing indicating that the company would reduce the size of its recruiting team in March and would then announce restructurings and layoffs in its tech groups in late April and business groups in late May. This equated to 10,000 job cuts globally and Meta said it will close around 5,000 "open" roles that had not yet been filled.

Where companies are reducing headcount through redundancies, IDA Ireland works with its client companies to understand the skills profile of impacted staff, and to share relevant profiles with companies that may be hiring. In this regard, and with the support of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland recently ran a webinar to discuss supports available to anyone considering starting their own business in Ireland.

IDA Ireland also works with companies to understand if targeted training support could be an assistance in training and retaining impacted teams and mitigating losses through the use of skills diagnostic tools and training support programmes.

In all such cases, our priority is to assist those losing their current employment and to this end, officials at my Department, through IDA Ireland, will continue to work closely with the company over the coming weeks.

More broadly, the technology base in Ireland has been building for over 40 years, and will continue to grow in the future, despite the current challenges. Technology is now pervasive in all business sectors and the need for tech skills across the entire industrial base remains strong. In many cases, the impacted skills are highly transferrable. In the meantime, Meta remains very committed to Ireland and the Irish operation will continue to be integral to Meta’s global operations.