Colm M. Hilliard
Question:491 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the reason for the 65 per cent reduction in subhead E2 of Vote 34 in the 1997 Estimates for Public Services. [1714/97]
Written Answers. - Departmental Estimates.
The purpose of subhead E2 is to provide grants to projects setting up in the Shannon Free Zone, mainly in respect of plant and machinery, training of workers and rent reduction on factories provided by Shannon Development. There was a large increase in the provision under this subhead for 1996 in comparison to the outturn for 1995 due to the requirements of one project in particular, viz. Shannon Aerospace. There is no provision for a grant to Shannon Aerospace in 1997, hence the reduction.
Colm M. Hilliard
Question:492 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the reason for the 50 per cent reduction to the Irish National Organisation for Unemployed under subhead L2 of Vote 34 in the 1997 Estimates for the Public Services. [1715/97]
The grant of £66,000 under subhead L2 of my Department's Estimates in 1996 included provision for a once-off payment of £35,000 to the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed towards the cost that organisation of hosting the Conference of the European Network of the Unemployed in Ennis, County Clare, in November 1996.
The provision under subhead L2 for 1997 is £33,000.
Colm M. Hilliard
Question:493 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the reason for the 57 per cent reduction for the employment community initiative under subhead M2 of Vote 34 in the 1997 Estimates for Public Services. [1716/97]
Subhead M2 of my Department's Vote provides Exchequer matching finance for projects sponsored by my Department's agencies under the European Commission's Employment Initiative. This funding represents 25 per cent of the total projected cost of the projects in question. The remaining 75 per cent of the projects' costs are met from the European Social Fund.
The original provision for subhead M2 in my Department's Estimate for 1996 was £415,000. This Estimate was prepared during 1995 in advance of projects becoming fully operational and was based on the projected costs of projects up to the end of 1997. The requirement was revised downwards to £208,000 in the context of my Department's Supplementary Estimate at the end of 1996.
The 1997 Estimate for subhead M2 makes provision for £180,000. While this represents a 57 per cent decrease on the original 1996 Estimate it is, in fact, a much smaller decrease compared to the revised Estimate for 1996.
The 1997 Estimate is based on the latest projection of expenditure by my Department's agencies and this accounts for the decrease compared to 1996.
The reduction in the Estimate for subhead M2 does not affect the amount of EU funding generally available for projects under the EMPLOYMENT Initiative. A new call for proposals under EMPLOYMENT from projects to operate in the period 1998-99 was advertised in the national daily newspapers on 17 January. A sum of approximately £32 million in European Social Fund aid will be available to projects selected to operate in that period. I anticipate that all money available from the European Social Fund under this call for proposals will be absorbed.
Colm M. Hilliard
Question:494 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the reason for the increase in the grant for Jobstart in subhead K6 of Vote 34 in the 1997 Estimates for the Public Services. [1717/97]
Jobstart is a recruitment subsidy scheme aimed at enticing employers to take on those who are three years or more unemployed. All unemployed people who are in receipt of an unemployment compensation payment or lone parent's allowance for more than three years, as well as those who are referred by the National Rehabilitation Board and travellers, are eligible to be recruited under Jobstart. Under the scheme employers are paid a recruitment subsidy of £80 per week for one year when filling new or existing vacancies with an eligible unemployed person.
I was disappointed with this initial slow take up and I arranged to have steps taken to raise the profile of Jobstart and improve the promotion of the scheme on the ground by actions such as: radio advertising at peak times; targeted newspaper and business magazine advertising; high profile regional launches with attached publicity; FÁS personnel taking opportunities to address local business associations; intensive work by FÁS in matching clients with potential employers; discussions with the various employer organisations, including IBEC, ISME and the SFA, and with ICTU and the INOU, to discuss how best they could assist in promoting this programme. All these organisations reaffirmed to me their full support for the programme and agreed on a range of further measures to promote it.
As a result of these steps, the rate of take-up increased towards the end of 1996. This year a sum of £5.5 million is being provided under subhead K6 of my Department's Estimates. This will allow for a steady expansion of participation in 1997.