asked the Minister for Finance if, in relation to arterial drainage maintenance he will give details of the following: (a) the amount of finance allowed for maintenance in 1988 in the eastern and western regions, (b) the numbers employed in maintenance in both east and west regions, (c) the numbers who applied for redundancy-early retirement in both regions and the numbers in each area who have accepted redundancy, (d) whether any workers who accepted such redundancy in either region have been replaced by other workers and, if so, the area from which such replacements have been drawn, and (e) the amount of short time envisaged in this financial year for the western region; the reason this is the only region to have short time applied to it; whether this situation is fair; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Minister for Finance (Mr. MacSharry):
(a) The financial allocation proposed for the drainage maintenance regions in 1988 is: Eastern Region, £1,274,000; Western Region, £1,292,000; South-Western Region, £834,000.
(b) The numbers currently employed are: Eastern Region, 106; Western Region, 111; South-Western Region, 66.
(c) Seven out of 11 applications for voluntary redundancy have been accepted in the eastern region. Forty out of 42 applications have been accepted in the western region. The remaining six applications are under consideration. All 16 applications received in the south-western region have been accepted.
(d) No workers who took early retirement have been replaced in any region.
(e) Given the current financial situation, short time working in all regions now appears to be inevitable. Discussions are being held with the trade unions concerned this week. Following these discussions, it should be possible to clarify the amount of short time working involved.