EU fund to help workers may be returned

MUCH of the €25 million being paid out by the EU to help get laid-off Irish workers back into employment may have to be returned, MEPs have warned.

The European Parliament has agreed to spend €7.4m to help ex-SR Technics workers, bringing the total for laid-off Irish workers to €25m, but much of it could have to be returned to Brussels.

Despite the growing unemployment in the country, workers are finding it difficult to access the funds designed to retrain, upskill, further educate and help them set up their own businesses. The Government was accused by two Labour MEPs of taking too long to apply for EU funds following lay-offs and once the money is paid, in putting obstacles in the way of workers accessing the funds.

The SR Technics workers have just 11 months to spend the money on retraining, upgrading their skills and helping them set up their own businesses.

Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa said he led an SRT delegation to meet the commission 18 months ago but it took the Government another six months to submit the application, and another seven months to respond to clarifications sought by the commission.

“This is a totally unacceptable way of handling this fund. The consequences of this delay is that only 11 months are now left in which to spend this money.

“The Government has not learnt the lessons from the Dell application where €8m of the €22m allocation remains unspent and may yet have to be returned to Brussels.”

MEP Alan Kelly, who has been working with former Dell and Waterford Crystal workers, says the department is putting road blocks in their way to prevent them accessing the fund in a way that suits their needs. “The Government is rejecting workers’ applications for all kinds of nonsense reasons. It is proving to be hugely demoralising for the workers.

“One example is where workers that want to set up their own business are being refused help because their partner is not also eligible for money from the fund.

“This is insane and it goes against the idea of the fund. Nowhere in the European rules does it state this has to be the case. It’s only the Irish government that is forcing workers to comply with this — they are limiting the opportunities for workers.”

Mr De Rossa said it beggared belief that four years after the fund, known as the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, was established, only now is the Government establishing a national coordinator for the EU funds to help workers who have been laid off when their industry moved elsewhere.

Independent MEP Marian Harkin, who played a leading role in representing the workers in their bid to access the fund, said she hoped that when the Government contributes its €4m, it will help the workers return to the labour market swiftly.