FIVE railway workers will be made redundant after their appeals were dismissed by an independent panel.
The affected staff will remain employed by the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure until July.
Minister David Cretney MHK said: "I very much regret the necessity to make five staff redundant to meet our budget.
"My department consulted with 32 employees, identified 22 posts to be saved and of those reached agreement with 17 people who were willing to move on to other posts in government, to other employment or to take early retirement."
The five staff took their case to an appeal panel which consisted of senior officers who were external to the department. Normally the appeal would be to the chief executive officer of the department but an independent panel was used to avoid conflict of interest.
The panel heard the appeals on Friday, June 3 and judgements were passed to Nick Black, the chief executive of the department. He then wrote to all staff members affected, and to Steve Salter regional industrial organiser for the Unite union, informing them of the department's decision.
David Cretney continued: "I want to reiterate how much my department regrets having to make any redundancies. This action was only taken with the greatest reluctance and as a result of the difficult economic times.
"Anyone unsure of the scale of the issues need only to cast an eye to our near neighbours and particularly to the changes that are being made to the public sector in the UK and Ireland.
"Indeed other departments here have had to make staffing reductions as have a number of private sector employers because of the current challenging economic conditions.
"I have experienced redundancy and sympathise with all staff affected but must re-emphasise the responsibility on departments like mine to make any possible economies so that the Departments of Health, Education and Social Care can retain their funding and maintain the level of service the Island expects."
He added that efforts would continue to explore redeployment opportunities for the workers affected.
