State picks up €30m redundancy bill for insolvent firms

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.

And the latest estimates from the department for 2009 say it is expected that e234 million will be spent on statutory redundancy payments this year.

The figures come on the same day that the Public Accounts Committee heard the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) — from which statutory redundancies are paid — will probably run out by the end of the year.