ISME urges publication of redundancy figures

THE Irish Small & Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) has called on the Government to publish an up-to-date list of monthly redundancy figures, which they have failed to do so since August 2011.

The association said no figures had been published since the Department of Social Protection took responsibility for compiling the figures from the Department of Jobs more than four months ago.

ISME chief executive Mark Fielding said the monthly figures are extremely important as they indicate the number of redundancies announced, the trends, sectors and areas most affected.

“It is absolutely incredible that one department cannot transfer a responsibility to another without a major breakdown.” he said. “It also highlights the inefficiencies in our public service, especially when we were informed that the figures would be available by November 2011 at the latest.”

ISME has not received any explanation for the gap in figures, but the Department of Social Protection posted a note on its website stating they will not be in a position to provide sectoral and other breakdowns over the coming months due to a transition to a new IT system. The note added the department will be in a position to resume the provision of the full suite of statistics by November of this year. However, no statistics on redundancies have been published for November or December which leaves a four-month gap.