Workers waiting six months for redundancy pay

WORKERS face waits of up to six months for redundancy payments as the number of claims lodged soars to 1,600 per week.

By the end of the first three months of 2009, the number of new claims lodged with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, was equivalent to more than three-quarters of all claims lodged in 2007.

Junior Labour Affairs Minister Billy Kelleher said 19,742 claims had been lodged by the end of March, equal to almost half of all claims for 2008 (40,607).