asked the Minister for Labour the amount of money paid to date from the Insolvency Fund under the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
210.
Written Answers. - Redundancy and Employers' Insolvency Fund.
209.
asked the Minister for Labour the amount of money in the Insolvency Fund under the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984, at present; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 209 and 210 together.
There is no separate fund for payments under the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984. Such payments are made from the Redundancy and Employers' Insolvency Fund from which payments under the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 to 1984, are also made. At the end of September 1986, the balance in the fund amounted to £7,018,102. However, this does not take account of uncashed cheques as of that time.
The total payments made by my Department up to 30 September 1986 from the Redundancy and Employers' Insolvency Fund in respect of entitlements under the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984, amounted to £7,764,018, of which £3,690,351 was paid in the first nine months of 1986.
211.
asked the Minister for Labour if he is aware that to date no money has been paid under the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984, to the former workers of Free Printers in Wexford; when such moneys will be paid; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Payment has been made by my Department under the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984, to 18 former employees of Free Printers (Wexford) Limited, through the liquidator of the company, of minimum notice awards made by the Employment Appeals Tribunal. The payment, totalling £13,936,12, was issued to the liquidator from the redundancy and employers' insolvency fund on 30 July 1985 and has, I understand, been distributed to the employees concerned.
An application under the 1984 Act is still under consideration by my Department in relation to payment of certain outstanding contributions due to the company occupational pension scheme. That application has been submitted by the trustee-administrator of the scheme, also through the liquidator. The present position is that my Department, in order to decide on the appropriate amount which should be paid from the fund, requires to have an actuarial certificate, in relation to the amount that would be necessary for the purpose of meeting the liability of the scheme on dissolution to pay the benefits provided by the scheme to the employees. My Department has requested the liquidator of the company to obtain such a certificate from the applicant and when it is received the application will be dealt with without delay.