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Job Losses.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 November 2004

Tuesday, 16 November 2004

Questions (55, 56, 57, 58)

Seán Crowe

Question:

99 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will make financial provision for the shortfall in severance packages particularly with respect to reduced pension entitlements of former workers at a subsidiary of the Irish Fertiliser Industries (details supplied) in Belfast when compared to their counterparts at the IFI plants in Carlow and Cork which closed at the same time. [28318/04]

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Arthur Morgan

Question:

118 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will establish a fund to address the plight of former workers at a subsidiary of Irish Fertiliser Industries (details supplied) in Belfast who received inferior severance packages, particularly with respect to reduced pension entitlements, following the closure of that plant, compared to their counterparts at the IFI plants in Carlow and Cork which closed at the same time. [28317/04]

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Kathleen Lynch

Question:

139 Ms Lynch asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has satisfied himself that all possible steps have been taken to protect the interests of former employees of Irish Fertiliser Industries, who lost their jobs as a result of the liquidation of the company; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that some of these employees may now receive as little as 25% of their pension entitlements; if, in view of the fact that the Minister was the majority shareholder in the company when it was decided to appoint a liquidator, he will look again at the question of providing assistance for former employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28338/04]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 99, 118 and 139 together.

The State has already made a significant financial contribution to assist the former employees of Irish Fertiliser Industries. Following the decision by the board of IFI to put the company into liquidation, ICI and the State, the shareholders in IFI, while there was no legal obligation to do so, established a special fund with almost €24.5 million to provide ex-gratia severance payments to the former employees of IFI. All applications from employees to the ex-gratia fund of €24.5 million, have now been processed. Payments from the fund were made were in accordance with the basis for distribution determined by the trustee of the fund, which has been endorsed by a ballot open to all employees. The basis for distribution was the same for all employees regardless of location. In addition, employees would have had certain statutory redundancy and other entitlements. While these would have varied somewhat reflecting the different arrangements in the two jurisdictions, I do not believe that this resulted in any significant variances in overall severance packages received.

As regards pensions, I am aware that employees based in Belfast, who are deferred pensioners of the Richardson's pension fund, are likely to receive much reduced pension entitlements. The specific financial position of the Richardson's fund appears to have arisen primarily from a combination of the statutory rules which currently apply on the winding up of a pension fund in the UK and a shortfall in the assets of the Belfast fund compared with its liabilities as a result of the fund trustees' investment strategy coupled with a significant fall in the equities market.

I understand that the UK Government has announced proposals to deal with the issue of pension shortfalls arising from insolvencies but I am not aware of the impact, if any, this may have on the shortfall in the Richardson's scheme. In addition, I understand that the trustees of the Richardson's scheme have submitted a claim to the liquidator of IFI and that he is currently considering, in consultation with his legal and actuarial advisers, whether, and to what extent, this claim is admissible.

Question No. 100 answered with QuestionNo. 89.

Paul Kehoe

Question:

101 Mr. Kehoe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on developments at a company (details supplied) in County Wexford; the likelihood of the outsourcing of the service and the lack of alternative employment for existing workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28361/04]

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I understand from the company in question that it intends to cease its Rosslare-France service no later than 30 November 2004. The company informed its staff on the MV Normandy on 20 October 2004. I understand that in making the announcement, the company proposed an enhanced voluntary redundancy-early retirement package or the opportunity to redeploy to ships on its three Ireland-UK routes. I further understand that these options were proposed in order to avoid compulsory redundancies. However, these options were subject to co-operation with the company’s full proposals which also include restarting the French route with a lower crew cost and new crew from March 2005.

The company has advised me that in the event of consultations with the unions being unsuccessful, it will operate a collective redundancy of 125 permanent staff, 25 long-term temporary staff, and upwards of 48 seasonal short term staff, at the end of the month.

The Government has an interest in maintaining in operation Irish Continental Group's Ireland to France service, manned if possible by Irish seafarers. Its endeavours will be directed at encouraging the maintenance of the service. Primary responsibility for this area rests with the Minister and the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, both of whom are keeping in touch with events.

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