The department are a disaster to deal with....
On the other side, we (an employer) sent in a redundancy rebate claim which was firstly registered on line when the employee was given 8 wks notice and then sent in the documentation by registered post when the employee finished up and received his redundancy payment in full. It was registered on their system on the 15th of June 2009 (which was immediately as employee finished up on the 12th of June), on the web site it says that they are now dealing with August 2009 claims - we still have not received aprox €10k of a rebate and when i ring they tell me that it has been approved and is gone for payment and we should have it in a few WEEKS - they have now been telling me the same thing for the last 3 weeks and again yesterday I was told a few weeks. Its a day to day balancing act trying to keep a business up and running without this kind of treatment from our government departments.
Hopefully we won't have to make anyone else redundant, but it is very hard for small businesses to survive when the government can hold onto your money for so so long, when we have to pay them Vat or PAYE/PRSI it has to be monthly by direct debit - seem to be one rule for collecting but a totally different one for refunding....
I don't envy your situation trying to find out if and when you will receive your money, but I do see why an employer would not be in a position to be able to give the employee the redundany cheque in full on the day they finish.
They are a disaster to deal with.....