Vol. 420 No. 6
4 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Taoiseach the number of occasions on which the task force on employment, established under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress, have met; the number of reports they have produced so far; the progress which has been made in implementing these reports; if he will outline the proposed future work of the task force; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The task force on employment have met on 33 occasions since they were established in June 1991. They have submitted 15 reports to Government. These reports related to the production of components and products for multinational companies; extra third level places in education; new in-company job training scheme; stamp duty on new houses; planning procedures; the special trading houses scheme; the European orientation programme; Revenue Statistics on Employment; urban renewal; roads construction; labour force statistics; investment and reorganisation of the ports; telecommunications tariffs; direct marketing and expansion of the VTOS scheme.
In addition, the task force developed and submitted to Government measures aimed at helping to get long term unemployed persons back to work in the 12Programme for Economic and Social Progress area partnerships which I announced at the presentation of the 1991 annual report of the Tallaght Partnership on 30 April 1992. These measures had been submitted to the task force on behalf of the partnerships.
A large number of the recommendations made by the task force are being implemented. A working party set up under the task force have launched a major initiative involving the IDA and the chief executives of the multinational companies to double the purchasing of Irish-made components by the electronics industry with the objective of increasing this business to £600 million a year within the next five years with the possibility of creating more than 3,000 jobs. They are also working to maximise the use of Irish-sourced products in the construction industry. A further working group are promoting linkages between State companies and have recently developed a strategy for the development of the Irish building products industry which will, through the appropriate agencies, develop linkages within the industry.
As a result of the task force recommendations on the requirement for extra places in third level education there will be an estimated additional 4,200 places in 1992-93 in the public institutions while some private third level colleges have had certain courses approved for the higher education grants scheme as a result of their being accepted as designated institutions.
The new employment subsidy scheme and job training scheme, which are now operational, were established on the basis of recommendations made by the task force. Up to 29 May applications were made by companies in respect of 3,699 jobs under the scheme, with a total of 3,188 job approvals. The approval process in respect of applications for placement on the job training scheme is also in operation and recruitment has commenced under the scheme.
The task force had recommended that the threshold for the exemption from stamp duty for the sale of new houses be increased from a floor-area of 125m² to 140m². This proposal was given due consideration in the context of the 1992 budget but was not approved by Government. A study of the special trading houses scheme which was recommended by the task force is underway and will be completed shortly.
Task force recommendations on planning procedures expedited the release of planning permissions for 11,000 houses in September 1991. Recommendations regarding the period of decision by An Bord Pleanála have been taken into account in the Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill, 1991, currently before the Seanad, and similar requirements will be applied to the licensing provisions in the Environment Protection Agency Act, 1992.
The expansion of the European Orientation Programme as recommended by the task force is proceeding apace playing a vital role in giving specialised training for young Irish graduates in marketing skills in Europe.
It was also recommended by the task force that there should be a much higher proportion of residential development in the urban renewal areas and that incentives to encourage this should be developed. Section 23 incentives are now confined to the designated areas. The task force have made recommendations relating to the National Roads Authority which are being considered by the Department of the Environment in the context of the Roads Bill, 1991.
On foot of the task force recommendations on the improvement of statistics on employment and unemployment the Revenue Commissioners are developing a computerised system to allow for quarterly reports of the numbers of individuals in employment. The Department of Social Welfare are also carrying out the classification of live register inflows by previous history and occupation in the 51 employment exchanges across the country. From the end of May, the coverage of the live register will be changed in accordance with recommendations of an expert group, representative of relevant Government Departments, the Central Statistics Office and the social partners, endorsed by the task force. Persons on short-time working arrangements currently on the live register who have a strong job attachment for 50 per cent or more of a given period will be included with other systematic short-time workers in Table 5 of the monthly live register statement. Certain self-employed persons, such as small shopkeepers and fishermen who are in receipt of unemployment assistance as an income supplement will be removed from the live register as they are analogous to the unemployment assistance of smallholders. The method of compiling the unemployment rate in Table 7 of the monthly live register statement will be changed to accord with that used by agencies such as OECD and EUROSTAT in their monthly publications.
Recent task force recommendations have dealt with investment and re-organisation of Irish ports; the need for more competitive international telecommunication tariffs; the growth potential of the direct marketing industry and the need to improve employment prospects of the long term unemployed by raising their education level. These are at present under consideration.
The work of the task force is ongoing having regard to the work being undertaken in other fora such as the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Employment, the task force on the implementation of the report of the industrial policy review group, the task force on tourism and the 12 area partnership companies and they will continue to make recommendations on initiatives to increase employment and reduce unemployment.
I thank the Taoiseach for his detailed reply. Can he give us an idea of the number of additional jobs which have come into existence as a result of the Task Force recommendations? Will he indicate the relationship which will exist between the Task Force and the new Oireachtas Joint Committee on Employment?
The new Oireachtas Joint Committee on Employment will have at their disposal all the information available in various areas of Government. They will also interact with the Task Force on Employment. The Deputy sought specific details on all the schemes being operated. I do not have this information with me but if the Deputy puts down a separate question I have not doubt that the information can be extracted for him.
I would have thought, given the nature of the Taoiseach's reply, that one simple fact that would have been highlighted if it existed at all would be the figure of net jobs created as a result of the recommendations of the task force. Could the Taoiseach be more specific with regards to the rôle of the task force vis-á-vis the new Oireachtas Joint Committee on Employment and does he think there will be duplication of effort in relation to these two bodies?
There is no necessity for any duplication of effort. Nowhere in the Deputy's question does he refer to the type of statistics he is looking for and consequently they are not available in my brief.
I am sure that if 1,000 new jobs were created the Taoiseach would be glad to tell the House.
The question referred to reports and asked what was done in that regard. If the Deputy wants to put down another question he should feel free to do so and I will give as lengthy a reply as I have given today.
In regard to the number of categories that will no longer be included in the live register such as small shopkeepers, part-time fishermen and so on, can the Taoiseach give the number of people represented in these categories as of last Friday, the date of publication of the unemployment figures?
With his long experience as Minister, the Deputy knows quite well that such information is not available in reply to this type of question. If the Deputy puts down a separate question I will get the information for him. It is quite clear from the statement I made that changes will be made and I will give the details as soon as they are available.
Since these categories are being removed from the unemployment register, the figure will be lower than it would otherwise be. Surely that figure is available to the Taoiseach.
The Deputy is making a statement.
I want to underline the fact that the unemployment figure will be lower as a result of the removal of these categories. Surely the Taoiseach has this information in his brief and, if so, he should give it to the House.
I assure the Deputy that I do not have that information. I also assure him that the live register as it exists at present is a poor illustration of the classification and qualifications of unemployed people. To seriously tackle the unemployment problem one should know what categories are included in the live register, where they are and what skills and educational attainments they have. We have some information and I intend to get the rest. Deputy Barry will, no doubt, put down a question at a future date when we make the adustments, but they will not be made for the purposes for which he suggests.
As the Taoiseach does not have the global figure on the number of jobs created, if any, may I ask him a question in relation to the first proposal made by the task force on the sourcing of goods for multinationals in Ireland? It was claimed at the time that proposal was made that 1,000 jobs would be created in that area. How many of those jobs have been created since that proposal was first announced?
The Deputy is seeking a lot of detail.
If the Deputy puts down a question on that matter I shall be glad to answer it. I would remind him that he is talking about the linkage programme. One of the task force reports set a target of 3,000 jobs to be achieved over a period of five years in the electronics areas alone. The importation into this country of goods valued between £800 million and £1,000 million represents a substantial number of jobs that could be created here. In relation to the multinational investment referred to by the Deputy, the Irish economy supplies only about 27 per cent of the total requirements of the multinationals in this country. Consequently, this is another area that needs to be focused in on to try to create the maximum number of jobs. This is one of the reasons that economic growth of the levels achieved over the last four years has not produced the additional number of jobs expected.
Now that we have received more statistics perhaps the Taoiseach would say how many new jobs have been created.
Question No. 5 from the same Deputy.
