Irish Regions Office Website

June 04, 2010

Globalisation Fund: Irish Construction Sector application

As speculated in the January Bulletin following a successful aid package negotiated by Lithuania, the Irish Government is preparing to submit a similar bid to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) on behalf of the Irish construction industry.

A recent meeting held between Marian Harkin MEP (Member of the European Globalisation Working Group in the European Parliament), the BMW Regional Assembly and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment provided clarification that it is now the Irish Government's intention to pursue an application based on the effects of the economic downturn on Ireland’s construction sector. While the fund has already been deployed in relation to the mass redundancies announced last year by DELL, SR Technics and Waterford Wedgewood, this would represent the first time that it will be invoked by Ireland at sector level and beyond the effects of a single firm closure.

The application, to be based on official National Redundancy Database statistics, is to be forwarded to the European Commission by the middle of June and, if successful, would part-finance one-off retraining initiatives, career guidance and self-employment incentives for a certain number of individual workers made redundant within a timeframe likely to stretch from July 2009 to March 2010. The EGF regulation potentially allows for support for those made unemployed in a range of sectors relating to building construction including ''specialised construction activities'', ''civil engineering'', ''architectural and engineering activities'', ''services to buildings and landscape activities'', and ''real estate activities''.

EGF

Posted by iroronan at June 4, 2010 01:19 PM