Vol. 440 No. 3
28 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment his views on whether there will be a slowdown in job losses in the years 1994-1995 in view of the experience of 1993; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
It is not possible to predict with any degree of certainty the extent of future job losses because of the many factors which influence the rate of job loss such as the demand for goods and services from our main trading partners and demand conditions on our home market.
The Government is using every means at its disposal to boost sustainable employment. The recent budgetary measures, the Programme for Competitiveness and Work and the investment programmes in the national plan which will boost economic growth will help to stem the rate of job losses.
IDA, SFADCo and Údarás na Gaeltachta data for 1993 show a substantial drop in job losses over 1992. Also, redundancy figures for recent months show a continuing decline in redundancy notifications mirroring the improvement in the seasonally adjusted live register. I hope this will continue through the year and into 1995 and 1996.
