Vol. 548 No. 5
92 Mr. Dennehy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, in view of the settlement in 2001 with Irish Ispat workers, she will reconsider the refusal to pay to Irish Steel workers, made redundant in 1993/1994, matching funds under the European Steel and Coal Workers Regulations which would have amounted to approximately ?2,700 per worker. [5811/02]
In the case of the application to the European Commission for re-adaptation aid funding under Article 56(2)(b) of the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, in respect of steel workers who were made redundant as a result of the 1994 Irish Steel restructuring plan, an application was made by my Department on the basis that the extra-statutory redundancy payments received by these workers constituted the State's matching funds. The extra-statutory redundancy payments which had been paid to the workers by Irish Steel were taken into consideration in a State aid package made to the company in 1996. This effectively resulted in a contribution being made directly from Exchequer funds towards the extra-statutory redundancy payments. The European Commission accepted that the extra-statutory redundancy payments could be regarded as matching funding for the purposes of the application. This position was in line with the 1991 convention between the European Commission and the Government which defines the terms and conditions for the granting of re-adaptation aid. A legal opinion, produced by the Attorney General in September 1999, supported the State's interpretation of the 1991 convention in relation to the matching funding. Therefore, there are no matching payments outstanding to the former employees.
The workers, who lost their jobs as a result of the closure of Irish Ispat last year, only received statutory redundancy payments. They did not receive extra-statutory redundancy payments. As it is a condition of the European Commission that the State makes a matching payment before any ECSC re-adaptation aid can be paid, it was necessary to pay €3,000 to each of the workers. Last December this was approved by the Dáil.
