The company referred to went into liquidation in October 2006 and in accordance with the provisions of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2003, lump sum payments were paid directly to 45 employees of the company concerned, in November this year out of the Social Insurance Fund. This Department is not in a position to say what assets the company has other than the plant. There are no legislative provisions in operation for this Department to compel the company to pay amounts over and above the statutory redundancy lump sums to redundant workers.
In a collective redundancy situation employers are required to notify the Minister at least 30 days before the redundancies commence. In this instance, as the company went into liquidation, no notification was received by the Department. In liquidation situations the person responsible for the affairs of the business need notify the Minister only where the Minister so requests. However, the local FÁS Office has been informed of the redundancies, as is the normal practice in collective redundancy cases. The resources of FÁS are available to all redundant workers. FÁS provides workers with information and advice and places workers on training programmes, which generally lead to further employment.
