DELL IRELAND

On the 8th January 2009, the computer manufacturing company Dell announced major redundancies at its Raheen plant in Limerick. An application for EGF co-funded supports was prepared and submitted on the 19th June 2009. It was the first Irish EGF application. The application was made in respect of 2,840 workers made redundant from the Dell facility and in eight ancillary companies who had direct contractual relationships with Dell. These companies were Banta Global Turnkey, IEC/Flextronics, Sercom, Sodexo, Cube, RPS Engineering, Rehab Logistics, and Novo Strat.

The total value of the application, which was subsequently approved by the EU on the 22nd December 2009, was €22.8 million. This figure included EGF support of €14.8 million with the remaining €8.0 million being funded from national sources. The eligible period for the delivery of services under the approved EGF programme closed on 28th June 2011.

A consultative EGF Steering Committee was established in April 2010 chaired by an Assistant Director in FÁS and included representatives from service providers covering higher education, further education, enterprise, as well as Dell ex-worker representatives. A dedicated EGF Co-ordination Unit was established in Limerick in February 2010.

It is estimated that almost 5,500 interventions were delivered over the course of the EGF implementation period. For example:

• FÁS provided occupational guidance and training supports including courses delivered by private colleges and trainers through the EGF Training Grant scheme. It also provided in-company training in the form of internships;
• further and higher education supports were provided by the Vocational Education Committees and publicly-funded Universities and Institutes of Technology respectively;
• enterprise and self-employment services including business advice, mentoring, and financial and non-financial assistance were provided by County and City Enterprise Boards.

Final figures on total programme expenditure were included in an EGF final report submitted to the European Commission on the 23rd December 2011. The EGF final report and a table showing labour market outcomes of the EGF programme are set out below:

• Dell EGF Final Report
• EGF Dell Assisted Population Categorisation – Labour Market Outcomes