I move :
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1977, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Labour, including certain services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain grants-in-aid.
The main items in this Supplementary Estimate relate to training, that is, an additional £1.2 million for An Comhairle Oiliúna, comprising £1 million for general expenses and £200,000 for capital expenditure; £50,000 additional for the Irish Management Institute; and £60,000 extra for the Council for Education, Recruitment and Training of Hotel and Catering workers. The January, 1977, budget provided for additional grants to AnCO over and above these shown in the main Estimate for the Department and the amounts now being sought for AnCO relate, in part, to the additional budgetary provision. The grants which AnCO get from the Exchequer are supplemented by moneys from the European Social Fund. Grants amounting to £6.9 million have been approved, or are expected to be approved, from the fund in respect of the 1977 operations of AnCO.
The main item of AnCO expenditure is on their direct training activities which take place in their network of training centres and in training facilities hired from other bodies. This aspect of the activities of AnCO has been greatly expanded in recent years as has the demand by individual workers for training by AnCO. The expansion has contributed to a general raising of the level of individual skills to meeting the needs of our expanding industrial base, particularly those of new industry and to providing improved employment opportunities for a growing number of workers. The resources now sought, together with the corresponding Social Fund grants, provide for a further stage in the increase of direct training facilities. AnCO expect to train 12,500 people in 1977 as compared with 10,000 in 1976.
The expansion of training is one of the Government's most useful weapons for helping to cope with the unemployment problem. As AnCO recover up to 50 per cent of the bulk of their training expenditure from the European Social Fund—this figure incidentally will be increased to 55 per cent from 1st January next—and as there are off-setting savings to the Exchequer on social welfare benefits, the nett cost to the Exchequer is relatively low. The skills of the trainees are much enhanced and their employment prospects improved. In 1976 over 80 per cent of AnCO trainees were placed in employment within six months of completion of training. I am satisfied, therefore, this additional expenditure in 1977 is well justified.
The grant to the IMI is being increased from £300,000 to £350,000. The grant to the institute has been held at £300,000 for several years and has represented a steady falling percentage of the institute's income. I have reviewed the matter recently and decided that, in view of the importance of management training to the development of the economy, some increase in 1977 is called for. Recovery from the recent recession and the solution of our employment problems will call for the highest expertise from Irish management. The institute can make a major contribution to raising management performance.
As regards CERT, this organisation, which has heretofore concentrated on training for hotel employment, has been extending its activities in relation to training for catering and tourism. The great majority of those who benefit from training organised by CERT are young people. In view of the improvement in our tourism industry and the good prospects for the future, an additional £60,000 is provided for CERT for 1977.
Incidentally, both CERT and the IMI also benefit from grants from the European Social Fund.
Two new subheads provide for grants to the Council for the Status of Women and the Employment Equality Agency. The Council for the Status of Women is an umbrella organisation, representing 30 women's organisations. The grant is to be matched by a grant paid by the Commission of the European Communities, which has invited the council to operate an information centre on women's rights in this country. Similar centres are being established in the other EEC member countries.
The Employment Equality Agency was established under the Employment Equality Act, 1977, and came into operation on 1st October, 1977. The agency is concerned, in the public interest, with working towards the elimination of discrimination against women and promoting equality of opportunity between men and women in the employment field. It will also advise the Government on the working of both the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974, and the Employment Equality Act, 1977, and make recommendations for any amendment of these statutes which it considers necessary. The provision in the Supplementary Estimate is for staff costs and other operating expenses of the agency during the last quarter of this year.
An additional grant of £10,000 for the National Industrial Safety Organisation is also provided. For the last couple of years NISO have been able to meet a good deal of their expenses from certain accumulated reserves which have now been exhausted. In effect, this grant provides for a return to the normal level of financing of NISO. I consider it important that the valuable activities of NISO in promoting an awareness of the needs for workplace safety and in encouraging better standards of Industrial safety, health and welfare should not be curtailed.
The Supplementary Estimate indicates that there will be savings on the new subhead for the employment incentive scheme, which was opened in the first Supplementary Estimate for the Vote passed in May last and for which a sum of £3 million was voted. Unfortunately the expectations of the previous administration have not been realised about the extent to which this employment premium scheme would be availed of by employers. Since the present Government took over, the rate of premiums for school-leavers has been increased from £10 to £14 with effect from 12th September, 1977; and the scheme, which was confined to manufacturing industry and agriculture, has been extended to cover additional employment in construction and services generally. However, the impact of these decisions on expenditure in 1977 has not yet been great and their main impact is likely to be on 1978 expenditure. The scheme as so far announced applies to additions to the workforce up to 24th February, 1978, but premiums will be payable in respect of qualified additions for a period of up to 24 weeks from the qualifying date. It is my intention that this scheme in its extended form would apply to additions to the workforce up to the end of 1978.
If time permits I will endeavour to answer any questions that may be raised.
