The economic recovery has seen a more than 90% reduction in the last five years in the number of people having to claim redundancy from the State because their employer was in financial difficulty or insolvency.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said he would like a new secretary general of the department in place by the end of July.

Increased PRSI contributions or reduced pension and social welfare benefits will be needed to address major deficits in the Social Insurance Fund (SIF), an Oireachtas Committee was warned yesterday. An actuarial review of the SIF conducted by consultants KPMG has revealed the shortfall in the fund stood at €1.5bn in 2011.

MORE than 30,000 redundancy claims due to be paid from a state fund are waiting to be processed in the Department of Social Protection, according to latest figures obtained by the Irish Examiner.

THE Government is trying to recover a staggering €80 million from employers who said they could not or would not pay out statutory redundancy to employees they were letting go.

THE Government paid out almost €30 million in redundancy payments in the first two months of 2009, latest figures from the department of Social Welfare Department of Social and Family Affairs have shown.

PROJECTS to help students with disabilities access and benefit from third-level courses are among dozens of programmes that will benefit from a total of €97 million in government funding announced yesterday.

The Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, has announced that universities and institutes of technology will receive €97m in funding from the Strategic Innovation Fund.

OVER €40 million was yesterday designated for more than a dozen third-level projects, in the first tranche of monies allocated under the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) for higher education.

THE Government followed through on a massive €1.2 billion Budget-day promise for the third level sector yesterday, announcing details of 35 new construction projects in universities and institutes of technology.

INCREASING statutory redundancy payments to workers would cost up to €130 million, a report released yesterday shows.

The price of cigarettes, petrol and diesel increased at midnight last night following Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy’s budget yesterday.