Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Redundancy Payments Act 1967, as amended, provides for the making of payments by employers to employees in respect of redundancy.

To qualify for a statutory redundancy payment an employee must have been dismissed as a result of a genuine redundancy situation and the following conditions must be met:

• 104 weeks continuous employment with the same employer
• the job must no longer exist
• employee must be over 16
• employment which is insurable for all benefits under the Social Welfare Acts

This includes employees who are over age 66. Where this situation arises, it is the employer’s responsibility to pay statutory redundancy payments, in the first instance, to eligible employees.

If an employer is unable to pay the statutory redundancy payment to an employee, due to financial difficulties, an application for payment from the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) may be submitted by the employer on behalf of the employee to my Department under the Redundancy Payment Scheme.

If there is a particular case that the Deputy would like to be examined, officials from my Department will conduct a review.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.