Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 November 2008
16 Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her Department collects, collates and analyses statistics on redundancies and job losses in such a way that enables it to make an application for funding from the European Globalisation Fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41276/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraEmployers have a statutory obligation under the Protection of Employment Acts 1977 to 2007 to inform the Redundancy Payments Division of my Department at least 30 days in advance of all proposed redundancies of 5 or more workers. Information on these collective redundancies is then collated and analysed by the Employment and Training Strategy Unit of my Department in order to establish whether the necessary eligibility criteria of the European Globalisation Fund have been triggered and whether or not the basis exists on which to make a claim on that Fund.
The European Globalisation Fund was established under Regulation (EC) No. 1927/2006 to assist workers in EU Member States made redundant as a direct consequence of major structural changes in world trade patterns. The Fund provides up to €500m annually in supports and has been in operation since January 2007. Strict eligibility criteria and conditions apply in seeking up to 50% matching financial assistance for active labour market interventions under the Fund which are complementary to existing national measures. These criteria include the requirement that at least 1,000 redundancies take place either over a period of 4 months in the case of a single enterprise, including its suppliers or downstream producers, or the same number of redundancies over a period of 9 months in the case of small or medium size enterprises in a particular sector. To date, the relevant criteria have not been met and hence no application has been made.
The President of the European Commission recently announced that the Fund may be modified in the light of the present economic situation and would form part of the programme to revitalize the European economy to be announced later this month. Ireland continues to closely monitor the level of collective redundancies nationally in the context of assessing whether the strict criteria currently applicable under the Fund, or any potential future modification thereof, would be reached enabling an application to be made.
