June was the worst month for notified redundancies so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by the Government.

Figures published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show that 2,706 redundancies were notified to it in June.

This was an increase of 20.9 per cent on the same month last year, which was the biggest year-on-year rise so far in 2003. It was also the largest number of notifications received by the Department this year.

The next worst month was January, with 2,179 notified redundancies. The lowest figure for the year was April, with 1,906 notifications.

But the total number of notified redundancies for the year, 12,861, was still 7 per cent below the comparable figure for 2002, which was 13,816.

The overall number of notifications was up for the first three months of this year, but began falling in April.

Manufacturing was the worst hit in June, with this sector notifying a total of 1,129 redundancies. Metal manufacturing and engineering accounted for 589 of this figure, while job losses from all other manufacturing activities came to 540.

The next-worst performer was banking, finance and insurance, with 425 notifications, while distribution was in third position with 360.

The best performer was agriculture/forestry and fisheries, with just 19 notifications. These sectors are at their busiest at this time of year.

The next best was energy and water, which accounted for 50 notifications.

Chemical products notified 142 lay-offs. Building and civil engineering announced 173 lay-offs.

The figures do not include employees with less than two years' service with one employer, staff under 16 years of age or anyone qualifying for an old-age pension.