John Gormley
Question:54 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps being taken to address the current high levels of redundancy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23601/04]
View answerThursday, 7 October 2004
Questions (59, 60)
Jack Wall
Question:63 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of redundancies notified to his Department during 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and to date in 2004; the projected total numbers for 2004; the steps being taken to deal with the sharp increase in redundancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23673/04]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 63 together.
The number of redundancies notified to my Department in the years specified were 13,316 in 2000, 19,977 in 2001, 25,358 in 2002, 27,702 in 2003 and 18,137 to the end of September 2004. The corresponding figure to the end of September 2003 was 20,148, which means a 10% decrease in the number of redundancies notified to my Department so far this year. The quarterly national household survey prepared by the Central Statistics Office last month, shows that employment growth continued in the second quarter of 2004 with an increase of 42,800 or 2.4 % in the year on year position. The total number of persons currently in employment is 1.84 million.
The development of a competitive economy is a central tenet of generating sustainable employment and growth and is the focus of this Government's policies. Initiatives by the Government and the State development agencies, including reducing the burden of unnecessary regulation, are aimed at helping the country progress towards a knowledge and innovation-driven economy. Ongoing six-monthly assessments of our competitive position will ensure that appropriate and timely actions are taken to address identified weaknesses.
The recent report of the enterprise strategy group, ESG, recognises that we are at a turning point in terms of the competitive impact of global competition for markets and investments. The ESG made a number of key recommendations that are being considered by a high level group set up by my predecessor to look at the most appropriate route to implementing the ESG's recommendations. I will shortly be making a report to Government on their work and recommendations.