As Minister for Social Welfare I am primarily responsible for the provision of social insurance benefits and pensions and for the management of the social insurance fund so that it is adequate to meet the obligations incurred by the fund. I am also determined that no avenue should remain unexplored in our national effort to create new jobs, preserve existing ones, and in doing so, reduce the risk of poverty.
I have over a number of years, while meeting the needs of the social insurance fund, taken measures to ensure that the social insurance system operates as far as possible to encourage employment.
In 1992, I introduced the employers' PRSI exemption scheme whereby employers who take on additional full-time employees directly from the live register will not have to pay the employer element of the PRSI contribution in respect of such employees for two full years.