Tánaiste announces decision by the European Commission to approve payments to former employees of Irish Ispat Ltd

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Mary Harney today (Thursday 29 November 2001) announced that the European Commission has approved the making of payments to certain Irish Ispat workers who were made redundant as a result of the closure of the company in June 2001.

The Commission has approved the maximum aid amount of EUR €3,000 (IR£2,362.69) per worker. The payments are to be made under the scheme of European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Re-adaptation Aid

The Tánaiste said "It will take a few weeks for the Commission to finalise the administrative details and to transfer the funds so it is likely that these payments will not be made until after Christmas. However, one of the conditions for the receipt of this aid is that the Government should pay a matching amount of funding to the workers. The Government intends to pay the required matching funding of EUR €3,000 (IR£2,362.69) to the former workers in advance of the receipt of the funds from the Commission. This will mean that the workers will receive the Government contribution before Christmas."

The Tánaiste added "The Government's payment will be made to all the workers regardless of length of service. However, the payment from the Commission will only apply to workers who have more than one year's service and who would not have reached normal pensionable age at the time of being made redundant."