asked the Minister for Labour if any records are available or if any analysis has been made to show, under the following headings, why unemployment and redundancies have increased: (a) loss of market for products due to reduced consumption and/or demand, (b) loss of market as a result of reduced competitiveness due to price and/or lack of quality of product, (c) inability to get raw material due to scarcity or cost and (d) bad management; and, if so, if the records will be made available to the House.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment and Redundancies.
13.
Employers proposing to make workers, who have at least two years' service, redundant are required by the Redundancy Payments Acts to notify my Department and to state the reason for the redundancy. The purpose in requiring the employer to state the reason for redundancy is to establish that the dismissal constitutes a genuine redundancy as defined by the Act. The most common reasons given by employers for redundancies are "lack of work", "reorganisation", "fall in demand" or "closure".
The reasons given are not sufficiently detailed to provide the kind of information under the headings listed by the Deputy, but it is evident in most cases that the reduction in employment is brought about by a number of factors and not by one single reason.
Managements of firms facing employment difficulties, and their workers, have a variety of services to call on to help them in solving their problems. These services are mainly the concern of the Minister for Industry and Commerce but they also include training and retraining, the operation of the National Manpower Service, the redundancy payments code and the premium employment programme.
Will the Minister not agree that it is important that the reasons be as detailed as possible?
I agree it would be important to monitor job losses and establish the precise reasons for them. This is something that would come under the Department of Industry and Commerce and the agencies under that Department principally the IDA. Inevitably they would be involved in any closure, probably having been involved in the setting up and expansion of the industry. In addition, possibly some of the rescue agencies of the State would also be involved. There would be a considerable amount of detailed intelligence regarding the job losses between all these agencies. So far as the Department of Labour are concerned, they can only look to the records under the Redundancy Payments Acts and these provide reasons in general terms.
Will the Minister accept that there must be some obligation on the Minister for Labour other than the one stated?
There is an obligation, if that is the right word. He is concerned, as I am sure are all Members in the House, with regard to redundancies. The important thing is to ascertain why precisely they occur. That information is available in other State agencies, not in the Department of Labour.