Ned O'Keeffe
Ceist:56 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when payment of matching funding from her Department will issue to ex-employees of a company (details supplied) in County Cork. [3985/02]
Written Answers. - Redundancy Payments.
Following the closure of Irish Ispat Limited last year, my Department applied to the European Commission for re-adaptation aid under Article 56(2)(b) of the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty for employees who had been made redundant as a result of the closure of the company. One of the conditions for receipt of ECSC aid is that the member state concerned should pay matching funding to the employees before the ECSC aid is transferred by the Commission. In the case of this application, the Exchequer matching funds were paid to the ex-employees in December 2001. The ECSC aid funds are expected to be transferred by the Commission within a matter of weeks.
In the case of a previous application to the European Commission for re-adaptation aid funding in respect of steel workers who were made redundant as a result of the 1994 restructuring plan, the application for such funding was made by my Department on the basis that the extra statutory redundancy payments made to these workers constituted the State's matching funds. The extra statutory redundancy payments which had been paid by the company were taken into consideration in a State aid package made to the company in 1996 which effectively resulted in a contribution being made directly from Exchequer funds towards the extra statutory redundancy payments. The State's position regarding the matching funding was accepted by the Commission which, in any event, would have transferred the ECSC aid only when it was satisfied that the criteria regarding matching funding had been met.
The State's position on matching funding was in line with the 1991 convention between the European Commission and the Government of Ireland which defines the terms and conditions for the granting of ECSC re-adaptation aid. A legal opinion produced by the Attorney General in September 1999 supported the State's interpretation of the 1991 convention. Therefore, there are no matching payments outstanding to the for mer employees in respect of ECSC re-adaptation aid.