Jim Mitchell
Question:3 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Labour if he will indicate the total number of redundancies notified to him for the first four months of this year; and the corresponding figures for the same period in 1989 and 1990.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Redundancy Statistics.
Toddy O'Sullivan
Question:20 Mr. T. O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline (a) the number of redundancies notified to his Department for April, 1991 and (b) the total number of notified redundancies for the period January-April 1991 and (c) the total number of redundancies notified for the same period in 1990.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 20 together.
The total number of redundancies notified to my Department under the Redundancy Payments Acts in April 1991 was 1,486 compared to 590 in April 1990 which was an exceptionally low monthly figure. The total number of redundancies notified for the first four months of 1991 was 5,829. The figures for the corresponding periods in 1989 and 1990 were 5,403 and 4,097 respectively.
The Minister will be aware that his Government refused to agree to an all-party committee on employment. Would he not accept that registered unemployment is now at an all-time record, that those on short-time are at an all-time high and that emigration over the past four years has been twice the rate of the preceding four years and that redundancies are higher than they were in the last two years? In the light of those facts would the Minister not accept that there is a need for an all-party approach to this problem?
Question No. 3 in the name of the Deputy is essentially statistical and matters of policy should not therefore arise.
The redundancy figures for the first quarter are higher than for the same quarter last year but taking into account the global recession and the temporary dislocation of business during the Gulf crisis, the figures for January and February were not particularly large. The figures for the first four months, while higher than those for the first four months last year, are not too bad and I hope the figures will not continue to rise. There were very high redundancies in a number of companies during the first few months of the year.
The Minister, like the rest of his administration is complacent. The figures for redundancies for the first four months represent an annual rate of 20,000 redundancies, when unemployment is already at an all-time high and emigration is twice what it was before this Government came into office. Has the Minister any plan to stop the rot and restore employment to those who need it?
We are clearly entering into the area of policy and this question does not justify it. Policy measures should be dealt with in other questions.
Could I just——
Let us be careful, now. Both sides of the House should obey the Chair.
I just want to confirm that the figure for the last first quarter, at 5,800, is lower than the figures would have been right through the eighties. The figure is certainly higher than it was last year or the year before but it is nothing major.
(Interruptions.)
Question No. 4 has been called.