95 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if his attention has been drawn to statements made by multi-national companies who have made workers redundant in Ireland in 1996, that the reason for the redundancies was the high cost of production in Ireland in comparison to countries in the Far East; the studies, if any, that have been conducted by his Department to verify these statements; if so, the validity of these claims; whether the excess costs in Ireland are common to other EU countries; whether the costs are due to national or external factors; and if the excessive costs are due to national factors, the recommendations, if any, he will make to the Government to rectify this situation. [10685/96]

I am aware that a small number of the multinational companies which have made workers redundant in Ireland in 1996 have indicated low cost competition from the Far East as a factor in causing the redundancies.

This redundancy problem relates to low labour costs in the Far East in producing certain lower value-added products which have a high labour content and are therefore sensitive to labour costs.