asked the Minister for Labour the action he proposes to take by way of response to the most recent British measures to subsidise industrial employment.
Ceisteanna—Questions . Oral Answers . - Industrial Employment .
6.
: Under the employment incentive scheme premiums of £20 and £14 per week for 24 weeks are payable in respect of additional employees recruited by industry. With regard to the clothing and footwear industries and certain sectors of the textiles industry I would refer the Deputy to the announcement in the budget statement of the intention to introduce an employment maintenance scheme under which payments of £5 per week are to be made in respect of workers in eligible firms in these industries. A draft of the scheme is at present with the EEC authorities. The scheme will have effect from 3 April 1978 and first payments will be made in July 1978.
The effects of the British measures on employment in Irish industry and the effectiveness of our own schemes will be carefully watched.
: I have four or five questions on this matter, which I hope the Ceann Comhairle will allow me.
: One at a time, please.
: Why is this question not being answered by the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy to whom it was originally addressed and who has dealt with this topic in the House before now?
: That is a separate question.
: Surely I am entitled to know why the Minister to whom I addressed this question tossed it like a hot potato to a Minister who never previously has handled this topic in the House.
: The Deputy is aware that this is a practice which is going on in the House.
: I realise that questions are passed from hand to hand but usually there is some excuse for it. In this case there is no excuse, since the Minister to whom I addressed this question previously handled this topic in the House when he had to. On other occasions he got his Man Friday to do it, but this is the first time that he has pushed the question completely out of his Department, and I want to know why.
: The Deputy should be aware that the temporary employment subsidy scheme will be operated by the Department of Labour. I take it that that is the reason why any such question regarding the operation of the TES scheme will be dealt with by my Department, and that is sufficient reason why I should answer.
: Can the House take it that the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy is stepping out of the picture as far as this area of operations is concerned, and that the Minister at present on his feet will be handling the matter from now on? Are all questions on this topic to be addressed to this Minister in future? Has the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy no function at all in the matter?
: One would assume that this Deputy was new to the House.
: This is a new one on me.
: The Deputy will recall that in the budget statement in February the operation of a temporary employment subsidy was announced for certain industries, and with the usual co-operation of Ministers of this Government, when details of the scheme had been worked out it was decided then, and understandably so, that the scheme would be operated by the Department of Labour. That is why the Deputy's question regarding the temporary employment subsidy which had been awaited for so long by Irish industry should be answered from my Department.
: May I leave that topic and move to the substance of the Minister's reply? The question related to response to the most recent British measure. Is the Minister aware that six weeks after the budget statement here the Employment Secretary in London announced a new scheme— that was on March 15—of industrial employment subsidies? In that connection is the Minister aware that there is a difference between what the British Minister and his Department say will be the cost of that scheme and what Deputy Burke, Minister of State at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy, said here a month ago?
: Some weeks ago the Minister of State, replying to Deputy Kelly, pointed out the position regarding the latest proposed change in the British subsidy scheme.
: Obviously, the Minister has a copy of that reply before him but may I remind him that on the occasion in question the Minister of State told the House that in response to representations made by the Irish Government, the British scheme had shrunk from £306 million to £190 million? Will the Minister accept from me that I have heard personally from the Press Officer of the British Department, whom I telephoned, that that information was not correct and that the scheme will still cost £300 million and also that the number of workers supported by the scheme in Britain and at the expense of Irish jobs will increase from 328,000 to 400,000?
: Will the Minister accept that at this stage our proposed scheme is in very serious difficulty with the Commission in view of the fact that the Minister announced in the budget that the scheme would apply to certain industries, that now it is to apply to eligible firms, that currently the scheme is with the Commission, that it is languishing with them and that there is no indication that in any way it will have the kind of impact it was designed originally to have?
: It is extremely mischievous of Deputy Desmond to make that suggestion. What he alleges is totally without foundation.
: It is the truth. The scheme is in considerable difficulty at Commission level.
: As I said in reply to the question the scheme will have effect from 3 April 1978 and the first payments, which will be retrospective, will be made in July. In relation to the question put by Deputy Kelly I cannot be held responsible for the comments of any press officer from anywhere other than the one from my Department and certainly not from a British officer. The new schemes as announced have serious restrictions compared with the previous schemes, those that existed during the Deputy's term in Government when no temporary employment subsidy was given here to these industries.
: Will the Minister accept that a new British scheme was announced on 15 March, that it was to operate from 1 May and that no additional Irish response has been promised in order to counteract the effect of that scheme on Irish employers?
: Again, I should tell the Deputy that the curtailment of the British scheme resulted from pressure from the present holder of the office of Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy. Our scheme was announced in the budget. It will operate from a date in early April and will be paid retrospectively in July.
: How long——
: We cannot spend all day on this question.
: Perhaps I will be allowed a final supplementary.
: Yes, but the Deputy must be brief.
: For how long has the Irish Government's proposal been with the Commission and have the Commission sanctioned the Irish scheme yet?
: I have informed the Deputy that there are no major problems with regard to the temporary employment subsidy as announced. Certain details have yet to be finalised but I assure the Deputy that what is involved is merely a matter of detail.
: Will the Minister accept that no further Irish response has been forthcoming since the latest British scheme was announced?
: That is repetition.
: The answer, as usual, is a duck egg.