Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 21 Jun 1990

Vol. 400 No. 3

Written Answers. - Redundancy Lump Sums.

Michael Bell

Ceist:

95 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline for each of the years from 1987 to 1989 in relation to redundancy lump sums paid from the Insolvency and Redundancy Fund direct to employees, where the employer failed to pay the lump sum (a) the number of (i) companies (ii) other employers involved (b) the number of employees concerned (c) the total amount of the lump sum payments (d) the amount recovered by him (e) the amount of the employers' debts to the fund and (f) the present situation regarding legal proceedings for the recovery of the debts due by firms to the fund.

Michael Bell

Ceist:

96 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline for each of the years from 1987 to 1989 inclusive, in relation to redundancy lump sums paid from the Insolvency and Redundancy Fund direct to employees, where the employer failed to pay the lump sum the case where (a) the firm or company ceased business or closed down and the employees took all reasonable steps, other than legal proceedings, to obtain the payment of the lump sum, and the total amount paid (b) the employer was legally insolvent and the total amount paid (c) the employer had died and the total amount paid and (d) the present position regarding the recovery of debts due to the fund in respect of these payments.

Minister for Labour (Mr. B. Ahern)

I propose to take Question Nos. 95 and 96 together.

The information is not available in the precise form requested by the Deputy. The position in relation to redundancy lump sums paid from the redundancy and employers' insolvency fund direct to employees where the employer failed to pay the lump sum is set out in the following statement:

Year	Number of Employers	Number of Employees	Total Amount of lump sums Fund paid from the Fund	Amount year Recovered in	*Total Liability year to Fund at end of
			£	£	£
1987	537	5,033	5,189,355	476,398	10,116,985
1988	377	2,739	2,990,930	733,590	10,277,162
1989	268	1,629	1,652,763	718,785	9,547,379

*This is the total outstanding employers' liability and does not include rebates allowed or amounts written off as irrecoverable.

The recovery of money paid out of the fund in the circumstances referred to can be a long and difficult process. In some cases the legal procedures may be protracted and in others it may be necessary to await the completion of receiverships and liquidations. For that reason the amount shown in the statement above as recovered in a particular year does not relate to the amount paid out in that particular year. It would relate to amounts paid out several years earlier.

The recovery process is an ongoing one and the recovery procedure may vary depending on the legal advice as to the most appropriate procedure to follow in any particular case. I can assure the Deputy, however, that all possible steps including legal proceedings are taken to recover moneys owing to the fund.