I propose to take Questions Nos. 159 and 177 together.
A total of 15,764 redundancies were notified to my Department in the first ten months of this year. The following tables set out the number of redundancies notified for each county in 2001 and the number of redundancies notified in each of the past 12 months.
I am very disappointed at the recent closures and job losses, and I am aware that it is a distressing and disruptive time for the people who are being made redundant. The State agencies, including IDA, Enterprise Ireland and FÁS, are continuing to work closely with the companies involved to address the difficulties arising for them and to assist the people being made redundant in finding other employment opportunities.
Table 1
Notified Redundancies by County
Period: 1 January to 31 October, 2001