I move "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The second national understanding provides for a Government contribution to a new Employment Guarantee Fund, and the previous Government were committed to making £10 million available for that purpose. This Government are prepared to fulfil that commitment.
While the text of the second national understanding speaks of a new Employment Guarantee Fund, no practical purpose would be served by setting up an entirely new fund, rather than extending the existing fund, and there would be considerable administrative complications in doing this. I am satisfied, there-fore, that the best way of fulfilling the commitment under the second national understanding is to provide further resources for the existing fund.
The purpose of this Bill then, is to amend the Employment Guarantee Fund Act, 1980, so as to permit a further Exchequer contribution of £10 million to the Employment Guarantee Fund under the second national understanding. It is proposed to amend section 4 of the 1980 Act so as to increase the limit on the amount which may be paid into the Employment Guarantee Fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas from £10 million to £20 million. Amendments to section 7 of the 1980 Act are also required so as to provide for:
(i) an increase of the limit on aggregate payments out of the Employment Guarantee Fund from £20 million to £30 million;
and
(ii) the winding-up of the Employment Guarantee Fund when the aggregate expenditure from the fund reaches £30 million, instead of £20 million as provided for in the 1980 Act.
The Employment Guarantee Fund under the first national understanding comprised a Government contribution of £10 million and an employer contribution —also of £10 million. This latter contribution was collected by means of a 0.35 per cent surcharge on the employer social security contribution for the period 6 April 1980 to 5 April 1981.
The £20 million which accrued to the Employment Guarantee Fund under the first national understanding has all been allocated for a very wide variety of job-creating projects. Some of the more important of these were the following:
Five million pounds was allocated for the employers' temporary subvention scheme for the textiles, clothing and footwear sectors. This replaced the employment maintenance scheme, which had been terminated following objections to the scheme on the grounds that it represented a distortion of competition contrary to the Treaty of Rome. It operated from April to December 1980 and both employer and labour interests have testified to its importance in securing employment in sensitive and vulnerable sectors. It has been succeeded by the employers' employment contribution scheme, which I will further comment on shortly.
£3.5 million was allocated for the national programme for the provision of sports and recreational facilities throughout the country. In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the value of physical recreation in our daily lives and the response to the national programme at local level has been extremely enthusiastic.
£2 million was allocated towards an exchange risk guarantee scheme operated by the Industrial Credit Company in respect of borrowing in foreign currencies to provide additional working capital for small-to-medium sized firms in manufacturing industry. This scheme had the purpose of facilitating the creation and maintenance of employment in small manufacturing concerns and in labour intensive industries and was adopted in response to repeated demands for such a scheme from the Confederation of Irish Industry and other bodies.
£2.3 million was made available for the environment improvement scheme which provided valuable employment opportunities for young people on work designed to improve local environmental amenities thus making Ireland a cleaner and more attractive place in which to live and, equally important, to visit.
£1 million was made available as supplementary finance for the temporary grant scheme for youth employment which is administered by the Department of Education and was introduced in early 1977. This money was distributed through the national governing bodies of youth and sports organisations for the employment of young people on desirable small scale projects in youth and sports clubs throughout the country.
Almost £1 million was given to Bord Fáilte for the creation of employment through the provision of a wide range of tourist and recreational facilities. The most important of the projects being undertaken under this heading is the development of a caravan and camping park in Curraghchase Forest Park, some ten miles south of Limerick city. This development is sponsored by Shannonside Tourism and will provide a focus for visitors to that part of the country, especially young visitors.
A total of almost £1 million was made available for the development of airport facilities in Sligo and Waterford. Both of these new regional airports will be operational by the end of this year and will enhance the attractions of Sligo and Waterford as centres for industrial development and for tourism.
There is a total of 33 projects aided from the original provision of £20 million in the Employment Guarantee Fund. Those which I have mentioned are the most important and they show, I believe, the positive contribution which the Employment Guarantee Fund has made and will continue to make.
Employment created as a result of expending the original £20 million accruing to the Employment Guarantee Fund under the first national understanding will amount to 2,800 man-years of employment approximately. Of these, 1,800 man-years arose in 1980 and 1,000 in 1981. Employment arising from the further Exchequer contribution to the fund of £10 million will be additional to this.
In deciding on the uses to which the further sum of £10 million for the fund provided for under this Bill, the Government will consult with employer and trade union representatives. The close involvement of the social partners in the allocation of the original £20 million accruing to the Employment Guarantee Fund under the first national understanding partly arose because, as previously mentioned, the employers were contributing 50 per cent of the available moneys. There will be no employer contribution to the Employment Guarantee Fund under the second national understanding; the Government will alone contribute. However, employers will contribute voluntarily 0.2 per cent of payroll towards financing a further new scheme of aid to sensitive and vulnerable sectors. This scheme, which will be known as the employers' employment contribution scheme, replaces the employers' temporary subvention scheme funded from the Employment Guarantee Fund. It received the approval of this House before the dissolution. It operates independently of the Employment Guarantee Fund and is administered by the employer organisations themselves.
Finally, I would like to say that this Government look forward to fruitful dialogue with the social partners. There are many features of the common programme agreed by the two parties represented in this Government which meet concerns felt by either or both employers and workers. The appointment of my colleague, Deputy Kavanagh, as Minister for Labour and Minister for the Public Service is further evidence of this Government's determination to approach our dealings with the social partners in a realistic and constructive manner. I would hope that, given the seriousness of our economic problems, we will meet with a similar response.
I am pleased to see Deputy Fitzgerald in the House this morning. I appreciate the enormous pressures he must have been under in relation to previous disbursements from the fund. On behalf of the Minister for Finance I must say that at the moment we are not entering into an absolute commitment in regard to the £10 million disbursement. We must have a look at the situation.
I was one of those who brought great pressure to bear on the previous Minister. I was chairman of Dublin County Council and we were screaming for additional moneys from the Department of Finance. Dún Laoghaire Corporation were also looking for money, temporary subventions. Now there is a new situation because there is an additional £10 million. The Minister will have to assess any outstanding demands and any new claims and we will endeavour to put forward in the near future a complete list of proposals for the expenditure of that money. I thank Deputy Fitzgerald for his understanding, and for his work when he was faced with a similar situation.