EU funding to help 850 former workers in the aircraft maintenance industry around Dublin find new jobs was approved by the European Parliament on Thursday. The aid package is worth €7.4 million.

Ireland sought the EU Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) funding to help 850 former workers at aircraft maintenance firm SR Technics Ireland Ltd, Dublin, to find new jobs. 

Although, even before the financial and economic crisis, airlines generally were cutting costs by outsourcing maintenance work to suppliers in lower–cost countries, the SR Technics job losses were triggered by its onset.

The EGF aid package will help 850 of the most disadvantaged former workers back into work by offering them guidance and training, both in and outside the workplace, education and other help with entrepreneurship and self–employment. The total estimated cost of the package is almost €11.5 million, to which the EU is contributing EGF aid amounting to €7,445,863.

EGF assistance must be approved by both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament before it can be granted. The Council of Ministers approved the package on 26 October.

Parliament approved the aid with 459 votes in favour, 54 against and 8 abstentions.

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) was established to provide additional support for workers made redundant as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation or the financial crisis and to assist them with their reintegration into the labour market. The annual ceiling of the fund is €500 million.