The announcement of redundancies at Anglo Irish Bank (IBRC), added to those planned by other financial institutions, once more focuses on the need for the government to effectively utilise the EU support provided by the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.

This was stated by Independent MEP Marian Harkin when she warned that lessons had to be learned from the Dell experience where some funds provided were unused and returned to the Fund. 

She said “We must have learned from the Dell application and subsequently from the 15 months it has taken to bring the €40 million construction industry application to approval stage, that the earliest possible planning is vital to ensure maximum use of the Globalisation Fund.

“The workers in financial services are not to blame for the damage the banks, in particular, have done to Ireland’s economy and, with no significant redundancies having occurred among senior managements, it behoves the Government to ensure that every effort is made to make an early and successful application to the  Globalisation Fund for workers.

“As the sole Irish member of the European Parliament’s Sub Committee on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, and having initiated the proposal for using the fund for those made redundant in the construction industry, I am fully aware of the need to ensure that applications are made effectively and pursued diligently in order to secure early implementation”, Marian Harkin MEP said.