Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 12 Feb 1998

Vol. 487 No. 2

Written Answers. - Redundancy Payments.

Thomas P. Broughan

Ceist:

100 Mr. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the action, if any, she intends to take to rectify the situation where former employees of a company (details supplied) in Limerick have not yet received redundancy payments due to the fact that the liquidator for that company has failed to submit redundancy certificates to the employment rights division. [3684/98]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Miss Harney)

In the company where employees are made redundant it is the responsibility of the employer, in the first instance, to pay statutory redundancy entitlements to them. In the event of the employer failing or being unable to pay these entitlements the employees may seek payment directly from the social insurance fund through the redundancy payments section.

A liquidator appointed to a company must ascertain if funds are available to pay the employees their statutory entitlements. Where sufficient funds cannot be found, the liquidator completes the relevant statutory forms and submits them to the redundancy payments section for processing and payment.

In a case where a liquidator delays unduly in submitting the forms, the employees have the option of appealing to the Employment Appeals Tribunal for their entitlements or complaining the liquidator to the appropriate professional organisation.

While I am responsible for ensuring that the issuing of payments from my Department is not unduly delayed, I have no function under the Redundancy Payments Acts in regard to the work of a liquidator. However, in this particular case, the completed forms have been received in the redundancy payments section and are being processed.