asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce what progress has been made in the setting up of a system of redundancy compensation for workers made redundant under schemes of technical improvement carried out by industries to enable them to meet freer trade conditions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Redundant Workers.
40.
I cannot accept the implication in the question that schemes of technical improvement must necessarily result in redundancy. On the contrary, it is hoped that modernisation and adaptation will help to maintain existing employment, and possibly to increase employment in a number of industries.
41.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that firms which have received substantial State grants for the carrying out of technical improvements or adaptations have now paid off large numbers of employees as redundant; and whether, in view of the fact that these workers have no compensation and are frequently unable to obtain alternative employment, he will take steps to ensure the avoidance of such redundancy in the future.
I am not aware that any firm which has received a substantial State grant for the carrying out of technical improvements or adaptation measures has paid off any employees. As I have already indicated in reply to previous questions, many of the individual firms which have applied for special grants to enable them to adapt themselves to conditions of freer trade have stated that, as a result of the adaptation, they expect to increase the amount of employment they offer, often because their increased efficiency will enable them to develop their export trades. While adaptation may mean disemployment in some individual cases, there is certainly no reason to suppose that it will give rise to net disemployment. On the contrary, it is for the purpose of avoiding net disemployment that the modernisation is being advocated.