The Mandate trade union, which represents around 1,000 former Debenhams workers, has urged the Taoiseach to make €3 million available to the workers in direct cash payments, rather than non-cash training and upskilling supports.
Former Debenham s workers in Tralee have described the Government s proposed €3 million training fund, aimed at ending their eight month protest, as an insult.
Last April Debenhams announced it was shutting its 11 Irish stores - including its branch in Tralee - with the loss of 2,000 jobs nationwide and 150 in Tralee.
Ever since former staff have maintained 24 hour protests outside all 11 premises demanding fair redundancy payments.
The former workers are set to receive statutory redundancy payouts of two weeks of salary per year of service, the bare minimum that liquidators KPMG are legally obliged to pay.
The laid off staff have condemned the mandatory offer as an affront to their years of service to the company and are seeking at least four weeks pay per service year.