Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 December 2004
43 Mr. Sherlock 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 numbers for this year; the steps that are being taken to deal with the sharp increase in redundancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33760/04]
View answerThe 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 22,080 to the end of November 2004. The corresponding figure to the end of November 2003 was 24,840 which means a decrease of over 11% in the number of redundancies notified to my Department so far this year. It is not possible to project what the total number of redundancies will be for the year. However, if a similar decrease were to be maintained for the remainder of the year, the total number of redundancies in 2004 would be approximately 24,600, which would be over 3,000 down on last year.
The most recent quarterly national household survey released by the Central Statistics Office on 7 December 2004 shows that employment growth continued in the third quarter of 2004 with an increase of 57,200 or 3.1 % in the year. This is the highest level of annual growth recorded since the 3.8% recorded in the first quarter of 2001. The total number of persons in employment is 1.89 million. In addition, the Central Bank is forecasting growth of 4.5% in gross national product for 2004, which also indicates a positive outlook for the economy in general.
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.
