28. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether he would consider measures to compel profitably companies to pay redundancies above the statutory cap when redundancies are made for strategic business reasons rather than financial insolvency. [66917/26]

The Redundancy Payments Act 1967, as amended, provides for a minimum statutory redundancy payment to eligible employees who are made redundant.

In order to be eligible for a statutory redundancy payment, an employee must have at least two years’ continuous service with an employer, excluding any period of employment with that employer before the age of 16 years, and be in employment which is insurable under the Social Welfare Acts.

An eligible employee is entitled to two weeks' pay for every year of service plus one additional week's pay, with weekly pay capped at €600 per week. It is the employer’s responsibility to pay statutory redundancy to eligible employees. This entitlement applies equally to all eligible employees being made redundant, regardless of the reason underpinning the redundancies.

In certain circumstances, an employer may offer a redundancy payment which is over and above the statutory amount. This is sometimes referred to as enhanced redundancy.

Negotiations on enhanced redundancy packages, over and above the statutory amount set out in law, are entirely a matter for negotiation and agreement between employers and employees and the State has no role in this matter.

The State’s independent industrial relations dispute settlement mechanisms, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court, can support parties where needed in their efforts to resolve their differences.