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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 3

Written Answers. - Job Losses.

Joe Costello

Ceist:

122 Mr. Costello asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of redundancies or job losses notified to her Department during 2001; the number of anticipated job losses reported to her Department to date in 2002; the equivalent figure for the same period in 2001; the steps being taken to deal with the continuing serious level of job losses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20348/02]

The number of redundancies notified to my Department in 2001 was 19,828. In the first ten months of 2002 a total of 21,024 redundancies were notified.

As regards anticipated job losses, one indicator of this is the number of collective redundancies notified to my Department under the Protection of Employment Act, 1977. These are the numbers of employees that companies have indicated that they propose to make redundant after the statu tory minimum notification period of thirty days. A total of 8,218 collective redundancies were notified in the first ten months of 2002. The equivalent figure for the same period in 2001 was 13,448.
I recognise the difficulties which the loss of jobs pose for the workers made redundant and their families, as well as for the companies involved. FÁS continues to provide a wide range of support services to facilitate workers affected in finding alternative employment.
The increased level of job losses in the current year arise from the continuing effect on the Irish economy of the deterioration in the international economic environment. Following several years of high-level growth by the Irish economy, averaging more than 8% between 1995 and 2000, the rate of growth slowed in 2001 to 5%. This reflected adverse developments in some of the most important sectors of the Irish economy. The agricultural and tourism sectors suffered as a result of the foot and mouth crisis, while the information and communications technology, ICT, sector in Ireland contracted in the face of the global collapse in investment in ICT goods and services. More broadly, the Irish economy was adversely affected by weaker consumer demand in Ireland's main trading partners and the impact on global trade and investment flows of the events of 11 September. Many of these global dynamics continued to weaken the domestic economy into 2002.
It is important that we keep recent events in perspective. The Central Bank is forecasting a growth rate of around 3% for 2002. Although well below growth rates in the 1995-2000 period, Ireland's economic performance in 2002 continues to outpace that of other EU member states, and job creation remains robust in both the foreign-owned and indigenous enterprise sectors. It is clear that our recent difficulties result from global economic conditions and pressures, and, for the most part, Ireland's competitive strengths remained fundamentally sound. For instance, it is worth recording that, despite the worst downturn in the history of the ICT sector, the five leading companies in the sector in Ireland – Intel, Dell, IBM, HP and Microsoft – continue to maintain overall aggregate employment levels.
There is still considerable interest in Ireland among the many leading international companies for higher-level activities. IDA Ireland is competing strongly at present for a range of significant investments and expects to be able to announce important new investment projects in the coming months, especially in the pharmaceuticals, healthcare and international services sectors. Meanwhile, development is proceeding in a number of major investments currently under way. Enterprise Ireland continues its work with indigenous companies with the objective of maximising the retention of existing jobs and the creation of new jobs. That agency's wide-ranging activities include supporting the setting up of high-potential start-up companies, increasing innovation and competitiveness of existing companies through investment in research and development, upskilling of staff, and developing access to overseas markets.
There are signs of a pick-up in global economic activity, which should have a beneficial impact on the Irish economy in 2003. Assuming that the pace of international recovery continues, the Central Bank has predicted a modest acceleration in Irish economic growth to about 4.5% in 2003. Whether the forecast global economic recovery will benefit Ireland depends, however, on our ability to remain competitive in international markets. This will require that we continue to address costs and other factors that threaten to undermine the competitive position of industry, with negative consequences for Irish economic growth and employment.
Question No. 123 answered with Question No. 83.
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