It is my great pleasure to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House. I invite Senator Carrigy to elucidate the matter he has raised.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Road Projects
I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for taking this Commencement matter. Unfortunately, the Minister for Transport was unavailable, which is disappointing. I wish to highlight the matter of the extension of the N4 from Mullingar through Longford and on to Rooskey and County Leitrim. The Government launched the renewed National Development Plan 2021-2030 in October last year. This was the largest national development ever plan delivered in the history of the State, valued at €165 billion, with a particular focus on priority solutions to strengthen housing, climate ambitions, transport, healthcare, jobs growth in every region and economic renewal for the decades ahead. The Tánaiste stated that we needed to anticipate what the Ireland of 2040 will look like, what our jobs will be like and how we will travel and live.
With a rapidly rising population, Ireland needs to invest in big infrastructure. If we were to look at a map of Ireland and at the road infrastructure, in the context of the national development plan referring to balanced regional development, we would be struck by the fact that the only region not being serviced by a proper motorway or dual carriageway is the north west. I am referring to counties Westmeath, Longford, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Donegal and Sligo. This entire region is not being serviced. While a significant amount, in the hundreds of millions of euro, is being spent on the works on the N5 from Castlebar running towards County Longford and on the N4 from Sligo eastwards, there is a missing link. The project went to preferred route stage in 2008. It was later removed from the national development plan. It was included once more when Project 2040 was announced by the previous Government. In December 2021, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, announced it had no money available to continue with the project. We understand that a significant number of families, including farmers and landowners, have been greatly affected by these delays and not knowing what will happen to their family land, homes, etc.
We received a reprieve earlier this year when a great deal of pressure came from public representatives. Money was found by TII to continue the project and identify an emerging preferred route. Based on the work that has been done, I expect this will be announced in quarter 1 of 2023. My understanding, though, is that this is where it ends. An increasing number of lives are being lost and serious injuries suffered on the current routes. Since 2008, we have had more than 20 fatalities, 34 serious injuries and 218 minor incidents.
The N4 transportation solution would support the Government's goal of balanced regional development by improving accessibility to the midlands and north west. A strategic corridor would be provided for reliable and safer road-based public transport in rural Ireland. It would also strengthen the tourism sector by linking Ireland's Ancient East with the Hidden Heartlands and the Wild Atlantic Way. It will not be possible to provide opportunities for active travel in towns and villages through the provision of dedicated walkways if we have continued congestion in a certain number of towns. On the way down west we can see this in Ballinalack, Rathowen and Newtownforbes. These may be small towns but they account for major bottlenecks.
However, the reality is that we have a large number of landowners and householders who are in a state of suspension since 2006. That is 16 years and counting. They are unable to make decisions on what they can do with their property.
This particular project is a crucial one for the island of Ireland in the context of the Government's ambition for the national development plan. It is likely to take between ten and 15 years to develop if sufficient multi-annual funding is made available, and if coupled with the usual judicial reviews which seem to be commonplace in this country. This needs to be prioritised.
I mentioned earlier that if one looks at a map of Ireland, there is an entire region that is not serviced with that. I understand money has to be part of projects from 2026 onwards. However, my understanding is that if this project does not continue to planning permission stage, we will have to go back to the start again, which we already have. We will have wasted multi-millions of euro. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, needs to make sure that funding is in place for this project and that the national roads office based in Mullingar will continue the process over the next couple of years and bring it down. The route and all the issues would be ironed out and compulsory purchase orders and planning permission put in place. If it has to be delayed due to funding for a year or two, so be it. However, we have a route and our planning permission. The landowners know where they stand and we do not have to go back to the start again. However, balanced regional development in the north west, and all those counties I have named, are entitled to the same opportunities as the rest of the country.
I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding for the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland under the Roads Acts 1993-2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.
In the new NDP, launched in October 2021, approximately €5.1 billion is earmarked for new national road projects until 2030. The funding will enable improved regional accessibility across the country, as well as compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects which are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. Exchequer funding under the new NDP will also facilitate continued projection and renewal of our national roads infrastructure, including motorways, in line with Government policy.
The N4 Dublin to Sligo road is a national primary route which connects to the N5 to Westport and the N6 to Galway and Athlone. It is a critical strategic corridor from Dublin to the north-west region and Border counties. The project is 54 km in length and connects Mullingar in Westmeath to Roosky in Longford. The existing route is a single carriageway road that passes through, or close to, several settlements, including Ballinalack, Rathowen, Edgeworthstown, Longford and Newtownforbes. Through the provision of reliable transport infrastructure, the project would improve connectivity between Dublin, Sligo and the north west. The proposed project would enhance regional accessibility and improve road safety along the route. This project is intended to support the economic performance of the local and wider region through the provision of improved transport infrastructure, while minimising the environmental impact.
The project has reached the route options selection phase. Initially, TII was unable to provide an allocation for this project in 2022, given the level of funding available for major road projects. However, funds became available early in the year and it was possible to provide a reallocation in order to progress the options selection phase. As a result of this, the options selection process was reactivated. Studies were subsequently undertaken in relation to various environmental disciplines and additional appraisal was carried out to take account of the national investment framework for transport in Ireland, NIFTI, which was published in December 2021. It is expected that an emerging preferred route corridor will be published in quarter 1, 2023, and that this route options selection process will be completed in quarter 2, 2023.
I thank the Minister of State. She said that it is a critical strategic corridor for the north west and critical to our national development plan. However, the reply states that funding is in place to complete the route option selection process by quarter 2. Therefore, it will be stalled. I ask the Minister of State to tell the Minister that this needs to be prioritised. TII needs to make the funding available for that office, based in Mullingar, to continue its work on the N4 and bring it to a further stage, to a planning permission stage, and to compulsory purchase orders. It is not a significant amount of money. The vast majority of the funding is in the construction stage. We need to bring it to that stage. I am not hearing good soundings and I do not think that is acceptable. It is a vital piece of infrastructure for the entire midlands and north west and it needs to be prioritised. It needs to be brought to a planning permission stage, so if it is stalled for whatever reason, including a lack of funding, at least we will not have to go back to the start and start spending tens of millions of euro again, which we have already done. It needs to be done and needs to be prioritised. TII, in its funding for 2023, needs to set aside money to the National Roads Office in Mullingar to continue that process over the next 18 to 24 months.
I thank the Senator. I will bring back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, exactly what the Senator said. To be fair to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, he really acknowledges what the Senator said, that it is critical. It has so many other nodes feeding into it. It is single lane carriageway. There is also a health and safety risk there. We are half way through a process and it needs to be completed and left to a particular standard. I will bring that back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan.
Hospital Facilities
Ba mhaith liom fáilte is fiche a chuir roimh rang a cúig don Gaelscoil Mainistir Fhear Maí. You are very welcome here. Tá súil agam go mbainfidh sibh taitneamh as an turas go dtí Teach Laighean. I hope you enjoy your time here with us. Maybe you might learn something and maybe you might be able to teach us something as well.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House. She is a fellow Galwegian who is often in the House and does great work for us. The issue I want to raise is the two new orthopaedic operating theatres in Merlin Park Hospital in Galway, which the Minister of State will be aware cost €10.5 million. They opened last June and were due to be fully operational shortly thereafter. It is now five years since surgical appointments had to be cancelled when a leaky roof at Merlin Park led to the closure of the old facilities there. In that time span, naturally, a considerable back log has built up. Unfortunately, there are now long waiting lists. It was expected that the new operating theatres in Galway would have a significant impact on reducing waiting times for orthopaedic surgery in the west. Unfortunately, five months after these theatres opened, they remain non-operational.
As the Minister of State will be aware, I have been contacted by constituents and by patients who have been waiting years for operations. Despite these theatres having opened, they do not seem to be any closer than they were prior to this multi-million euro investment in facilities. There are very harrowing stories. One woman needed a hip replacement over five years ago. She had an MRI scan carried out over three years ago and met with a specialist 18 months ago. She met with the surgeon due to do the operation in the first quarter of this year. The situation is so bad that she has to sleep in a recliner downstairs in her house and she has gone from having an active life with various activities to being someone who rarely gets out of the house.
I spoke to her again last week. She is struggling to go to mass and that is unacceptable. The reality is that she has no timeframe and as the Minister of State will be aware, the uncertainty is difficult. That is just one example among thousands of people in Galway West, Galway East and across the west of Ireland. The reality is that the longer this situation drags on, the more people are being added to the waiting list and the bigger the backlog is becoming. We must address this with urgency. These theatres must become fully operational. This is something that will make an enormous difference to the quality of life of people in Galway city and beyond, as the Minister of State is aware. Whatever measures are required to be implemented to resolve this need to be taken immediately.
I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and I will adhere to the script that has been provided to me. Before I do so, it is important for me to say as a fellow Galwegian that it is five years since the roof started to leak in Merlin Park University Hospital. It is five years since they went out of operation, since they were not fit for purpose and since we had all these meetings. A lot of good work has been done since then. It is fantastic to see that two theatres have been completed, and to see the energy and drive that went into the projects in recent times to bring them to the stage they are at. I will read the Minister's script but I will then finish with my own abiding words.
I thank Senator Crowe for raising the matter of the two new orthopaedic theatres in Merlin Park University Hospital Galway. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on this important service. As part of the Saolta University Health Care Group, Merlin Park University Hospital is a level 2 hospital delivering non-complex elective medical surgical services including orthopaedic and minor surgeries and renal services. It has two designated rehabilitation units along with a number of specialist outpatient clinics. As the Senator will be aware, work on the two orthopaedic surgical wards to serve Merlin Park hospital was completed in 2022. The purpose of these theatres is to increase elective surgical capacity at the site. Construction was completed earlier this year and commissioning was finalised on 10 June 2022. Currently one of the theatres is fully operational. Staff were originally put in place to allow for the provision of 16 theatre sessions per week, but currently ten theatre sessions are provided per week. These sessions are provided in one theatre running five days a week.
From 7 November 2022, theatre sessions were planned to increase to 12 per week. However, staff vacancies mean that ten theatre sessions are provided per week at present. Management at the hospital, in conjunction with the Saolta University Health Care Group, has approval for additional positions and is currently recruiting staff for these posts. For reasons of patient safety, which we can all agree is of paramount importance, it is not possible to open a second theatre until adequate staffing levels are in place. Currently the hospital requires an additional anaesthetist to allow the number of sessions to increase. International recruitment for nursing is also being progressed in order to increase staff resources and facilitate the operation of the second theatre. Management in Merlin Park hospital currently plans for the number of sessions to return to 16 a week from 9 January 2023. I do not know how they can do that. They will not have the staff.
Recruitment of key staff for health posts remains challenging. However, as a result of the commitment to sufficiently staff the health service in the long term, 2020-21 saw record numbers of recruitment into the workforce. In 2020 we saw the largest increase in the health sector workforce since the foundation of the HSE and in 2021 we saw the second largest increase.
There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on waiting lists and to be honest it is great to see the theatres now commissioned. We need to ask the HSE and the Saolta University Health Care Group to prioritise the recruitment of the anaesthetist and the staff to ensure elective surgeries can take place. The Senator outlined the need clearly when he spoke about the woman who is waiting for five years.
I have a book full of women who are waiting five years for services. It is incumbent on the HSE to prioritise. One way of driving down waiting lists is to recruit into the elective space. That is why we talk about needing an elective hospital. Surely how we clearly demonstrate we can deliver an elective hospital is to recruit enough staff to work in two theatres.
I thank the Senator.
I sincerely thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for her response. What I like about her is that she gave her own response. Outside the written script, she calls it as she sees it. That is what the House heard.
It is incomprehensible that on 9 January 2023 we will increase services by 60%. That will not happen. It is frustrating - I hear that in the Minister of State's voice as well - that we receive bland answers in this House. If I could explain in my own language to the people in Galway city, who elected me as a councillor for 11 years and gave me the opportunity and help to serve in this House, what the process is, what is causing the delay and how I cannot help this woman who is almost 80 years of age, it would make it much easier for me and perhaps the woman would understand it. However, being told that we will increase theatre sessions by 60% when we know it will not happen is fundamentally flawed. I hear the Minister of State's frustration. She is familiar with the situation in east Galway and concurs with my concerns.
I thank the Minister of State for her frankness and openness. It is a priority for this Government. It must happen. I am confident the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will raise the matter at the appropriate level of Government.
I thank Senator Crowe for giving me the opportunity to articulate to the people of Galway that this is a priority for the Government. The Government brought the theatres to the point of being commissioned. They have been approved by HIQA and so on at this stage. This is not news. We knew that two theatres would come on board. I wonder why our recruitment process did not start sooner and why we did not have the staff in place. We all knew we would need an anaesthetist. Having said that, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has provided the required funding to staff the two theatres. It is incumbent now on the HSE and the Saolta group to prioritise the recruitment of the staff. Whether in Ireland or abroad, they must prioritise it because we can no longer continue to explain to the people of Galway and the surrounding areas that we have two theatres but they cannot be looked after in the west.
Well said.
Environmental Schemes
I welcome the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, to the House.
I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I know he is under pressure due to commitments in Dáil Éireann. It shows his commitment to try to come up with a solution to this issue which is a big issue in north Clare. Everyone in farming circles, certainly in County Clare, and in environmental circles understands the huge benefits that the Burren life programme has had in the past ten years and more. We have seen a situation where there has been a contribution in environmental benefits in the region of €40 million and that is in addition to the money that has been put into the pockets of the almost 1,000 farmers who have participated in the programme. We have a situation where the farmers promoted the environment. They promoted green policies, the protection of the flora, fauna and landscape and became ambassadors for the area.
For the tourists and bus tours with people from all over the world, the ambassadors or tour guides and the people who tell the story are the farmers who have worked and lived there and derived an income and at the same time maintained what is beautiful and unique about the Burren.
Everybody wants to see a situation where what has been done in the Burren in terms of the environmental commitments is expanded because clearly this is where we want to go. We want to be in a situation where farmers can earn a living from their farms and at the same time protect the environment; they are not mutually exclusive. They do go hand in hand.
In many ways, what Brendan Dunford and his team have proven in the Burren through their work over the years is that they go hand in glove, if it is done properly. Their concern with ACRES in the first instance is that the key decisions were made before meaningful negotiations took place. There are a number of issues. The first is the incentivisation, where the more people did on their farms to protect and promote the environment and to farm in an environmentally-friendly way, the more they earned from it. That is a key principle. That is the incentive.
Second, there was a situation where organic farmers are being particularly penalised. They can derive benefits and incentives after level 8, whereas for ordinary farmers it is after level 4. That is a concern. In addition, with the CAP and caps in place, where is the incentive for farmers to environmentally develop and promote agri-incentives across all of their farms; they will just do it where they are getting paid. Human nature being what it is, why would they?
Another key point is the local involvement of experts who will do a bespoke review of a farm and advise a farmer in a very direct way to get results. It is like boots on the ground. There is no real provision for that in the scheme. That knowledge benefits and is gleaned and gained by the people on the ground engaging with the farmers, coming up with bespoke approaches. That has in the past been fed into the system and has proven to be of great benefit.
This project was nominated by previous Governments for European awards and won. It has been seen as a positive, natural way of marrying environmental concerns and profitable farming where people can live and work on and derive an income from their farm and protect it for future generations and - as I said already - be the ambassadors and the people who promote the landscape millions of people come to our country to see.
I hope that the Minister will get his officials to re-engage and look at the key pillars that the Burren project is concerned about and sit around a table and come up with a solution. These are very reasonable people who want to engage in a positive way because they understand that the Minister is trying to do his best to expand the environmental targets through farming. What has been achieved in the Burren could easily regress if this is not dealt with.
I am sure Senator O'Sullivan will join with me in welcoming the Fermoy students here today and their teacher. I hope the students enjoy their day in the Seanad and the Dáil.
I thank Senator Conway for raising this important issue. I have been engaging with Senator Dooley, Oireachtas colleagues and Deputies Crowe and Carey, along with Senator Conway, who have been raising this important issue. We have been discussing, addressing and considering the issues over the last few weeks. I had committed to coming back about a potential meeting with some of the farmers in the Burren project this week. I will be engaging my colleagues this week regarding meeting some of the farmers concerned to discuss the issues which they have raised today.
The Burren programme, which will conclude at the end of this year, has been a successful agri-environment climate measure that encompasses results-based habitat management and complementary non-productive capital investment works. The new national agri-environment scheme under the CAP strategic plan 2023–2027, the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, builds on the learnings and experience of the Burren programme and the Department's successful European innovation partnerships, EIPs. ACRES is a €1.5 billion scheme with two approaches. The first is the co-operation project, CP, which applies in eight mapped zones that are areas of high nature value; hold significant carbon stores; and are home to some of the most pristine waters in the country. The second, ACRES general, is for all other farmers who do not fall within co-operation project zones.
One of the eight CP zones is the Burren, which is expected to see some 1,300 farmers approved to join the scheme, more than four times the number participating in the Burren programme.
It was always the intention to scale up the positive aspects and actions from the EIPs or locally-led schemes, such as the Burren programme, and to mainstream them into large-scale national agri-environment schemes. This will provide a much larger environmental benefit and enable a greater number of farmers to contribute to environmental public good such as biodiversity and water quality. I am pleased to see the outgoing Burren programme team successfully tender and win the right to be the new co-operation project lead under the ACRES scheme, ensuring the transition I mentioned.
Further building on the work of the Burren programme, the ACRES co-operation programme has been designed to deliver significant long-term environmental improvement through the participation of a substantial number of farmers on the most appropriate land. As colleagues will be aware, there are currently some 300 farmers participating in the Burren programme. It is proposed that an additional 1,000 farmers in the Burren zone would participate in ACRES CP, an increase of more than 300%. This increase will benefit a huge number of farm families and the environment in the area, as well as being an economic catalyst and support for the area. With more farm families benefiting, there will be greater opportunities all round. Increasing farmer participation numbers beyond the limited numbers at present in the Burren programme requires a balance to be struck to ensure that as attractive a payment rate as possible is offered while ensuring that as many farmers as possible can join, with the resulting increase in the amount of land providing environmental benefit. As colleagues can see, this will represent a very significant upscaling of participation in the Burren region and will provide a larger cohort of farmers with access to the specialist skills of the CP team. Not only will there be a major increase in the number of farmers participating, there will be a substantial increase in environmental monitoring and assessment in that region.
Under the current Burren programme, a total area of just over 11,000 ha of species-rich grazed habitat is scored under the result-based assessment. By comparison, under ACRES CP, it is estimated that almost 40,000 ha will be scored in the Burren zone. I recognise there are concerns in the Burren area, with several current participants farming extensive areas of high-quality lands. We are working closely with the Burren CP team to develop a bonus structure to incentivise those farmers.
I thank the Minister for his response. There is no doubt that the ACRES scheme has huge benefits; nobody is disputing that. We are talking about a few hundred farmers who will be negatively impacted. In the overall scale of the financial commitment under ACRES, it is very small. There is a sense of morale, support, recognition and appreciation but ultimately, in these very difficult times, it is down to pounds, shillings and pence. I welcome the Minister's commitment to engaging with the farmers and their representatives this week. I am delighted he has confirmed that he will do that. I believe this can be successfully resolved through negotiation. I welcome the commitment from the Minister that he is going to directly engage with the farmers and the Burren Life programme this week to achieve a resolution. I thank him for coming in and addressing this directly.
I thank Senator Conway. It is about striking the balance between increasing the number of participants and ensuring good payments for those who participate. The EIP schemes of which there were a number of over the past few years and of which there will be more in years ahead was very much about piloting new initiatives so that we could learn from them and then incorporate them on a much wider scale. That is what is happening now as regards the Burren EIP and it is also what is happening in case of the hen harrier EIP, for example. They are being brought to a much wider audience, the environmental benefit is being increased and they are being learned from. I know the transition brings challenges and my officials have been engaging with the Burren programme around that transition. I have had many discussions with Senator Dooley, Deputy Crowe, Deputy Carey and Senator Conway on this matter and I had committed that I would come back this week as regards a meeting. I will engage with them to facilitate a meeting for some time next week.
Redundancy Payments
I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy English.
I thank the Minister of State. In February last year workers at Rehab Enterprises in Limerick were informed by senior management that the company would make 36 workers redundant following a 30-day consultation period. Most of these workers were earning the minimum wage of €10.20 at the time, of which 75% was subsidised under the long-standing disability wage subsidy scheme. The workers concerned who subsequently lost their jobs as of 2 April 2021 are among the most vulnerable people in society. They include people with visual impairments, learning difficulties and Down's syndrome. They lost their jobs in the middle of a pandemic and some of these workers had given decades of service.
Regrettably, the Rehab Group management made a unilateral decision to depart from a well-established redundancy agreement with SIPTU. This decision was totally unacceptable and an affront to the principles of equality and fairness. Instead of offering four weeks' per year of service plus statutory uncapped as per the long-standing agreement with SIPTU, Rehab offered just two weeks' plus statutory capped at one year's salary.
To put that into simple terms, as one worker who had been with the company for 30 years said, he should be entitled to €60,000 redundancy but he was offered just over €21,000. The 49-year-old added:
It is an insult. We feel cheated like we are dirt. It is a slap in the face. We are astounded at what Rehab had the cheek to offer us. My heart has been torn out of me. It is so hard to take.
His family said they fear that he and his colleagues would struggle to find other suitable work and that their lives would be negatively impacted by the lack of routine.
SIPTU has since been engaged in a long-running battle with Rehab, via the Labour Court, to secure the redundancy package the workers are entitled to under that long-standing agreement with the company. In April last year, the Labour Court recommended that a financial review be carried out to assess the ability of Rehab Enterprises, and the parent company Rehab Group, to honour the existing redundancy agreement. That review established that the Rehab Group, which owns 100% of Rehab Enterprises, has as custom and practice contributed to previous redundancy packages and has the ability and means to pay the full redundancy terms in the collective agreement with SIPTU.
In an updated commentary this year, the same analyst referenced a significant improvement in the finances of the Rehab Group with a net current asset year-on-year improvement of circa €3 million, and cash or cash equivalents of €20.8 million, which is an improvement from €11.8 million the previous year. The same analyst also noted a significant sum was paid to a senior executive in 2020. While the sum was not fully disclosed by the company, the analyst also noted that packages of €813,000 were paid to senior management in 2018 and 2019. So it would appear that there is one rule for senior management when it comes to redundancy packages and quite a different rule for front-line workers.
Last week SIPTU won a significant victory at the Labour Court after the third and final round of hearings. Quoting the financial analyst's clear determination that the Rehab Group has options to explore to meet this claim the court determined that it could find no clear and undisputed basis not to uphold the existing collective agreement and consequently recommended that it be respected.
The Rehab Group receives significant funding each year from the State. It has been demonstrated that it can afford to honour the redundancy agreement for these workers who are among the most vulnerable in the state. It has literally tens of millions of euro in available funds and has no problem splashing the cash for senior management. Will the Minister of State give a clear call on the management of Rehab to honour the existing redundancy agreement, as endorsed by the Labour Court?
It is interesting reading SIPTU’s submission to the Labour Court as it details the procrastination and delay that has been a constant feature of the Rehab Group’s response to this issue. It has dragged it out and these workers have been waiting for more than 18 months for the redundancy they should have received, so a clear message from the Minister of State would be very welcome and I look forward to his response.
I thank Senator Gavan for raising this matter. We discussed this issue in 2021 as well. I again extend my sympathies to the workers in Rehab Enterprises who have been made redundant. I fully appreciate how difficult the situation is for those involved and for their families.
By law it is an employer's responsibility to pay statutory redundancy to eligible workers. In situations where an employer is genuinely unable to pay statutory redundancy entitlements due to financial difficulties or insolvency, the State provides a safety net and may make the statutory redundancy payments on the employer's behalf from the Social Insurance Fund. However, negotiations on enhanced redundancy packages over and above the statutory entitlement, which is the case we are discussing here, are entirely a voluntary matter between employers and workers. The State has no role in this matter.
For its part, in the event of a dispute, the State provides the industrial relations dispute settlement mechanisms, that is, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court, to support parties in their efforts to resolve their differences. I must emphasise that Ireland's system of industrial relations is essentially voluntary in nature and that responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers rests in the first instance with the employer, the workers and their representatives. Recommendations arising from the WRC and the Labour Court are not legally binding. While I strongly encourage parties to engage in the industrial relations process in a constructive manner, the State cannot compel a party to comply with a Labour Court recommendation.
It is my understanding that negotiations are still in play and I would hope that the parties could reach a solution. I know there were offers and counter-offers and I hope a solution can be found. I am not in a position to tell the company. We have the industrial relations infrastructure and it has to do its job. I afraid that beyond the statutory redundancy, we do not have a role when it come to a commercial case.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply, which I am a little disappointed with. I understand the State cannot compel an employer to make a payment above statutory but, as a Minister of State, I would have thought he would have a responsibility to support the industrial relations machinery of the State. The Labour Court is the highest court in that regard. It has made a clear call on Rehab to pay these very vulnerable workers the moneys they are due under the collective agreement. We both know there has been a whole host of issues over collective agreements in recent years. I would think it is quite within the Minister of State's powers to ask Rehab Group to respect the recommendation of the Labour Court. This is the Labour Court, which is the industrial relations court of the State. When one reads the history of this dispute, and in particular the incredibly cynical attitude of the Rehab Group in relation to dragging out this process - as I said, these workers have been waiting 18 months and longer for the redundancy entitlements agreed collectively - it should not be allowed to walk away from that collective agreement. The Labour Court has said it should not walk away from this agreement. I ask the Minister of State to endorse the Labour Court's recommendation in this instance and give badly needed support to those vulnerable workers and their families.
The Government agrees the workers involved are a vulnerable cohort of the workforce. That is why every effort was made to work with them as far as possible from our end of it, in terms of the industrial relations agencies.
Apart from that, as the Deputy is aware, the Department of Social Protection and the Intreo office had intensive engagement at local level with all the workers to assist them on their journey and ensure they got all their statutory entitlements. They also gave the workers advice and direction regarding other potential jobs and worked with local employers to achieve that.
I understand that at the time of the announced job losses, on a local level, dedicated staff in the Department of Social Protection were assigned to work directly with the employees affected by redundancy because we recognised the position they were in and to ensure they received their proper entitlements and other services available to them. Officials also held group information sessions and one-to-one phone meetings with the workers involved. They advised the workers on supports for jobseekers with disabilities, including the EmployAbility service, which is an employment and recruitment service, to help people with a disability secure and maintain employment. Many of these people had built up skills working in this business for a long number of years. This action ensured employees were able to access their entitlements swiftly and in a manner that hopefully did not cause further distress.
I understand that the workers and their families are disappointed with the terms of the proposed redundancy package but, as Minister of State, I am precluded from intervening in this matter. This is because the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court are independent offices of our Department. As I mentioned, recommendations arising from the WRC and Labour Court are not legally binding. I agree with the Deputy that everybody should try to respect the arms of the State and the industrial relations machinery put in place, which works extremely well and effectively in most cases.
The Government cannot compel a party to comply with a recommendation. The ultimate responsibility for compliance with any Labour Court recommendation rests with the employer, the workers and their representatives. I understand there is still room for negotiations and some offers were made as well. I hope common sense will prevail and a solution will be found involving all three groups in this decision.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ag 3.22 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ag 3.30 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 3.22 p.m. and resumed at 3.30 p.m.