Joe Higgins
Question:1. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Taoiseach when the last meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on mortgage arrears and credit availability was held; and when the next one is scheduled. [35185/14]
Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed)
Cabinet Committee Meetings
Gerry Adams
Question:2. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet sub-committee on mortgage arrears and credit availability last met. [40961/14]
Gerry Adams
Question:3. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet sub-committee on mortgage arrears and credit availability is next scheduled to meet. [40962/14]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet sub-committee on mortgage arrears and credit availability last met on 29 May. In September the Government made a number of changes to Cabinet sub-committees, including the establishment of a Cabinet sub-committee on Construction 2020, housing, planning and mortgage arrears. The sub-committee has met three times to date, on 29 September, 8 October and 11 November. I anticipate that it will meet again in December.
Does the Taoiseach agree that the number of mortgages on private homes in arrears continues to be a source of very grave concern?
The Central Bank has announced that in quarter 2 about 120,000 mortgages were still in arrears, of which up to 90,000 were in arrears for over 90 days. It is worrying that in quarter 2, 1,752 private principal dwelling houses were in arrears for over 720 days, or two years. Does the Taoiseach agree that this is troubling? Behind this, there is a lot of suffering and pressure with which public representatives are familiar in visiting constituents and laying out their books. Their incomes simply will not allow them to make the necessary payments that the banks are demanding. They are living in constant fear of having their homes repossessed. In this light, should the Taoiseach not have taken my advice and that of others to have a write-down of unsustainable mortgages to affordable levels, just as the banks received a write-down on the backs of the people? By comparison, does he not feel ashamed that previous Governments in the 1970s which were right-wing year after year built 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 and in one year over 8,000 local authority homes? Is the record of the Government and its predecessor not dismal in comparison? That construction level is now needed to meet the terrible suffering as a result of the housing crisis. What will the Cabinet sub-committee do about this issue?
The situation concerning distressed mortgages has improved from what it was just a couple of years ago. The Government then had to act to provide a range of opportunities both for lenders and borrowers in order that they could sit down to work out solutions to the problem of mortgage arrears. The central principle was that the loss of a home should be the very last resort. For instance, the Government put together the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 which introduced three new forms of non-judicial debt settlement arrangement. It also reduced the automatic discharge period for bankruptcy from 12 years to three. It is complicated legislation. The Insolvency Service of Ireland has been established to regulate these new debt settlement arrangements. It opened to accept applications in September 2013. As of September 2014, there were 141 personal insolvency practitioners. They develop either debt settlement arrangements or personal insolvency arrangements, two of the new debt solutions. There are also 94 individuals who are capable of acting as approved intermediaries and can develop a debt relief notice. The Insolvency Service of Ireland has indicated that there are hundreds of cases in the pipeline which are at varying stages of verification before they can be forwarded to the court for a decision. The court may issue a protective certificate which offers debtors legal protection for a period of 70 days, during which time an arrangement between the creditors and the insolvent debtor can be put together. To date, 172 debt relief notices, 59 debt settlement arrangements and 80 personal insolvency arrangements have been approved. There is, as yet, no definitive evidence of banks vetoing proposals. There is some evidence that banks are attempting to reach agreements with their clients short of entering into a formal insolvency process. Banks are becoming more focused in their attempts to reduce their mortgage arrears books. The existence of the Insolvency Service of Ireland is helping as a catalyst in this process.
Since March 2013, the Central Bank has set quarterly targets for six banks to make offers of sustainable solutions to customers in arrears for in excess of 90 days. They are Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank, ACC Bank and KBC Bank. The targets for 2014 were set as 70% in quarter 1, 75% in quarter 2, 80% in quarter 3 and 85% in quarter 4. There is considerable progress being made in meeting these targets. Banks have reported that they are satisfied with all of targets up to quarter 1 in 2014. An independent audit has confirmed the banks' progress up to quarter 4 in 2013.
Following the introduction of a mortgage-to-rent scheme which facilitates families in staying in their homes by the transfer of ownership to a local authority or an approved housing body, to date, 2,465 cases have been put forward by lenders, of which some 1,437 have been progressed, while 41 cases have been fully completed. The Department has acknowledged that the number of cases remains quite low and a review of the scheme is being undertaken. This has resulted in quite a number of changes to the process with the housing agency taking a much more managerial role in the scheme. It is expected that the changes will result in more cases being processed and concluded in the not too distant future.
Another development involved a mortgage arrears information and advisory service which included a website, a helpline and an advice service. There have been 238,000 visits to the website since June 2012. Some 11,500 telephone calls have been received by the helpline. Data provided by the Central Bank for lenders from quarter 4 in 2012 to quarter 1 in 2014 indicate that there were some 27,500 long-term forbearance offers, with just under 560 invoices being received by lenders. A review of the independent financial advice service has been completed. These reforms are being progressed, including the introduction of advice at an earlier stage, in order that borrowers in negotiations with their banks will know what is available. In addition, a special rate of mortgage interest relief for first-time buyers was introduced and available from 2004 to 2008. These are some instances in which conclusions have been reached.
As Deputy Joe Higgins is well aware, it is ultimately a case of lenders sitting down with borrowers to work out a solution that, in the circumstances, is best for those with a mortgage in order that a conclusion suitable to their needs and appropriate to their circumstances can be reached. It is not fully satisfactory by any means, but it is moving very much in the right direction. At the end of the day, the principal requirement concerns the safety of the family home.
As I understand it, the Cabinet sub-committee is trying to find solutions to the problems of mortgage arrears and the lack of credit. There is not a Teachta Dála who has not had to deal with hard-pressed families who are beside themselves because they cannot afford to repay their mortgages. While some progress has been made, there has been very little in dealing with the issue of long-term mortgage arrears. Meanwhile, business people in the small and medium enterprise sector, in which about 70% of people are employed, cannot obtain the required finance. This is particularly the case for businesses which could potentially progress at this time. How does the Government deal with this matter?
In July the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform produced a good report, for which, I understand, there was cross-party support. It called for worthwhile policy changes, including, for example, the rejection of the Cental Bank's general acceptance of legal solutions as sustainable and a request for the Minister to intervene, in line with his stated views, and ensure legal letters were not regarded as satisfactory solutions.
Another recommendation made in the report was that each bank involved in the mortgage arrears resolution target process be mandated to provide all relevant customers with all available solutions as specified in the code of conduct on mortgage arrears. It is such a simple matter.
The committee called for the promised legislation on the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, CCMA, to be progressed with the utmost urgency by the Department of Finance to provide both legislative protection to homeowners and address the legal uncertainty that exists at present. These are practical suggestions, put together after consultation between the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and homeowners, the banks and organisations working with people in mortgage distress. The Government appears to show no interest in implementing them. I am trying to figure out the role of the Cabinet sub-committee, if any, in dealing with reports like this from the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform.
With regard to credit availability, the Credit Review Office published a report recently that said there had been some progress but noted, "there continues to be a challenge in obtaining finance for those SMEs which have been distressed but are now recovering, and are viable or potentially viable – particularly those with property debt overhangs". The report speaks of market failure on the supply side. In other words, we do not have a functional credit system. Can the Taoiseach respond to these two reports, one of which is from the Credit Review Office and the other from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. Can the Taoiseach give us a sense of how he intends to progress this?
One of the big election promises was the so-called State bank, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. It is not a bank and will only lend on to banks in the hope the banks will lend to SMEs. These are the banks that are criticised by the Credit Review Office. Will the Government consider applying for a banking licence for the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and give us some sense of where the Cabinet sub-committee does its work? Does the sub-committee communicate with the banks? Has the Taoiseach asked the banks whether they will take on board the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform or from the Credit Review Office?
Deputy Adams mentioned small and medium-sized enterprises and the facilities available to them. With regard to mortgages, at the end of August 2014, which is the end of quarter 3, there were 691,434 mortgages or mortgage accounts. The total number of accounts not in arrears at the end of quarter 3 2014 was 595,319. That means the total number of mortgage accounts in arrears from one day past due date is 96,115. The total number of mortgage accounts in arrears of greater than 90 days is 67,854. The total number of mortgage accounts in arrears of 90 days or less is 28,261. With regard to mortgages in arrears of more than 90 days past due date, there were 19,811 restructures, with 14,900 permanent restructures and 4,840 temporary restructures and there were 48,443 in arrears greater than 90 days but not restructured.
The SME situation has been critical for some time. The unstructured banks that applied when the Government was elected was something that had to be dealt with, and their restructuring involved setting up two pillar banks, Bank of Ireland and AIB, and the Central Bank setting targets for them. Deputy Adams raises an important point about access to credit for SMEs, which are the back bone of the country and for which so many job opportunities rely. The Deputy is aware that the Government has put in place an Action Plan for Jobs which is followed through and monitored by the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation under the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton. A range of measures were introduced, including the credit guarantee scheme, which will shortly be widened in scope after an external review. It was not working in the way it should have been working.
Microfinance Ireland was established to provide unsecured business loans of between €2,000 and €25,000 for commercially viable propositions that had been declined bank credit, or in other words, to give them an opportunity to get in there. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, will make €7 billion of resources available to support SME funding and for investment on a commercial basis to support economic activity and employment in the country. The local enterprise offices, which were set up as a one-stop shop in local authority areas, mean that anyone seeking information on support, starting, and growing a business in Ireland have the facilities available to them. The enhancement of the Credit Review Office under Mr. Trethowan, which provides a very simple and effective review process for small and medium-size enterprises, including sole traders and farm enterprises, applies where requests for credit are refused or existing credit facilities are withdrawn or reduced. This includes increasing the limit for loan applications that can be reviewed from €500,000 to €3 million. The House is aware of the value of the Credit Review Office, which was overturned refusals by banks in over 50% of cases. It is important information for SMEs to be aware of. If they are turned down by banks, the Credit Review Office can analyse the application and has overturned a great number of decisions.
There was also the development of the online tool for supporting SMEs to establish the State supports for which they may be eligible. It is available on one site so that any retailer or SME owner can have the access to credit checked quickly and efficiently. It is popular with SMEs. The Government increased the VAT cash threshold from €1.25 million to €2 million in last year's budget.
The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland is an important development. I met Chancellor Merkel last year at the meeting held in Paris to deal with youth employment and unemployment. I stressed the importance of a country like Germany assisting Ireland in credit opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises. The result was that the structure of the KfW triple-A rated State bank in Germany was made available to us, with significant sums of money invested. Together with the Silicon Valley Bank, the European Investment Bank and our resources in the NTMA, we were able put on the table €800 million in secured funding. The legislation establishing the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland allows €5 billion to be made available to SMEs over the next five years. I expect to leverage capacity from the €800 million will make credit readily available to SMEs at longer terms and with greater flexibility than under the current structures of the banks.
In budget 2015, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, announced that Permanent TSB, which will shortly recommence actively lending to the SME sector, has agreed to participate in the Credit Review Office process. Ulster Bank is also actively considering making a similar commitment. These are important developments providing extra security, clarity and certainty to SMEs.
The Government has also made changes to the employment and investment incentive scheme, including by increasing the amount of finance that can be raised by a company to €5 million annually, subject to a lifetime maximum of €15 million.
The range of enterprises now qualifying is widened and the seed capital scheme will be launched in the coming months by the Minister, Deputy Bruton. The Departments of Finance and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will roll out an integrated export finance strategy in 2015, with financing products and different platforms being developed by the strategic investment bank and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland. These are important issues.
Deputy Adams is well aware of many cases in the past number of years in which investment abroad by small and medium enterprises, SMEs, has not worked out. Many of those property issues have dragged down working SMEs that have been commercially viable. There has been quite a deal of engagement with the banks in respect of those cases where a business is commercially viable but is being dragged down by purchases of property.
These are some of the issues on which the Government has focused directly with small and medium enterprises. It is a matter of listening to those voices and addressing the issues they feel are important for improving their business propositions in order that they can take on more employees, expand their remit and provide services to bigger firms in a better way. It is about enabling them to export and providing an opportunity for more people to be employed, which is an essential part - and a consequence - of having extra availability of credit.
Bhí sé sin an-suimiúl, ach níor thug an Taoiseach freagra dom faoin strategic banking corporation. I suggested that the Government consider applying for a banking licence for the strategic banking corporation as opposed to having lending to the banks. As we all know, it has been dilatory in doing that job, particularly in providing credit for small and medium enterprises.
A number of applications have been lodged and approved for other non-mainline banking operations from corporations and so on which provide banking facilities for companies using products or equipment. As the strategic investment bank is developed and progresses, I am sure consideration will be given to the Deputy's question. It should be noted that from a greenfield plan, in fewer than 12 months, all the propositions for the strategic investment corporation were put together, signed off, sealed and delivered with €800 million on the table from 1 December. That is quite an achievement by all those who have worked and been involved in the process. The end result will be access to credit for companies that were not previously in a position to avail of that credit. It is a case of time moving along in seeing how effective this process is. Perhaps consideration can be given later to it.
The Taoiseach indicated at the outset that the Cabinet sub-committee last met in May. Is that right?
Yes, but it was changed in September.
In many respects that seems to indicate the lack of real action on mortgage arrears. For the past three and a half years, the Government's approach has been to leave the issue to the banks. The impact of the personal insolvency legislation has been negligible; the Taoiseach mentioned 172 cases. Despite all the elaborate debate and the creation of a large white elephant, there has been no real impact on those with mortgage arrears. There has been mention of a figure of 90,000 to 100,000 people who have been significantly in arrears for quite some time.
Many people have examined significant corporations and big businesses that are getting significant discounts on loans. For the average family in mortgage arrears, where a parent may have lost his or her job, there is no sense that anybody has dealt with them in a comprehensive or systemic way. That is a glaring reality of where we find ourselves. To a large extent, the Government took a hands-off approach to the crisis, especially with regard to the worst-hit families or those which are two years in arrears. The number of people who are more than two years in arrears is continuing to increase. Those people have not had any relief or seen significant structural changes to their debt which would allow them to contribute to the economy into the future and have a sense of certainty about their overall debt position within a reasonable timeframe. There is a combined value of approximately €8 billion of debt for families, which is of enormous social and economic significance. The Cabinet sub-committee, if we are to judge it by the frequency of its meetings, has not responded to the severity or depth of the crisis, particularly with regard to families in mortgage arrears.
There has been no attempt to free up the business side of the equation for small and medium-sized enterprises, and some SME owners have significant property debts that have brought down their business operations. Clear solutions have not emerged in that regard. I have dealt with quite a number of families with mortgage arrears and this is a large shadow in these people's lives. These families are depending very much on the goodwill of a particular bank or person in the bank and the hope that a bank will not engage too heavily. Different advice may come their way on how to respond. It has been three and a half years since the process started and it is time to get hands-on with those people who are in severe trouble. The Cabinet sub-committee on mortgage arrears and credit availability should meet far more often than it has to date.
It is an important point. Since August last year, the Department of Finance has published regular reports on what is happening here, engaged with the banks and processed that information. The figures produced in November this month, drawn from the six main banks, account for approximately 90% of the mortgage market. That information indicates that progress continues to be made. The data shows that up to September 2014, the total number of mortgage accounts in arrears - all arrears one day past the due date - is below the 100,000 mark for the first time since August 2013. The figures relating to the period up to the end of September 2014 underline the progress that has been made for private dwelling homeowners since the figures started being collected. The figures for principal dwelling houses demonstrate that the number of mortgage accounts in arrears of over 90 days and not in a restructuring arrangement has decreased from 62,210 in August 2013 to 48,043 at the end of September of this year. This means that engagement between consumers and lenders has led to an increase in permanent mortgage restructuring processes of over 32,400 since the start of the year. These are the people referred to by the Deputy; they have been under pressure and have had to live for the banks while existing for their families. In this year alone, 32,400 have reached an acceptable permanent restructuring arrangement. In 2014, there has been a drop of almost 12,000 in the number of mortgage accounts in arrears of more than 90 days, which is a relief for those people. The number of split mortgages continues to increase, with over 17,000 in place at the end of August. That results from discussions and engagement between borrowers and lenders.
Central Bank mortgage arrears statistics for the second quarter of 2014 reinforce the picture of solid improvement. For example, the number of mortgage accounts for principal dwelling houses in arrears fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, with the number of principal dwelling house mortgage accounts in arrears of more than 90 days continuing to fall during the second quarter. This represented a third consecutive decline in the number of principal dwelling house accounts in arrears over 90 days. Some 101,973 principal dwelling house mortgage accounts were classified as restructured at the end of June.
This reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 10.3%. Of these restructured accounts, some 81.2% were deemed to meet the terms of current restructured arrangements. It is important to note that restructured accounts can still be classified as in arrears for a trial period until the arrangement is proven to be working. The figures might be better than those given here because there is a trial period to see whether borrowers can measure up to the restructured arrangements. This is not a situation in which everyone is out of arrears with permanent restructuring arrangements, but things are heading in the right direction. We must build on the existing platforms.
Departmental Staff Recruitment
Micheál Martin
Question:4. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if his Department has recruited new staff recently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35204/14]
Micheál Martin
Question:5. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the position regarding JobBridge interns in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35667/14]
Micheál Martin
Question:6. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the number of staff vacancies in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37634/14]
Joe Higgins
Question:7. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Taoiseach the number of JobBridge participants who have worked in his Department. [43816/14]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 7, inclusive, together.
My Department recently recruited two administrative officers, three temporary clerical officers and a service attendant. My Department operates within an employment control framework ceiling of 181 which was determined by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Department currently has a whole-time equivalent staff of 179.98.
My Department recently assumed some new responsibilities following the assignment of Ministers of State with responsibility for the diaspora, data protection and the Irish Financial Services Centre. Some additional resources are being assigned to meet these responsibilities, in part through secondment of staff from elsewhere in the Civil Service. There are also currently two JobBridge interns in my Department on nine-month internships.
Since 2012 my Department has hosted eight internships under the JobBridge national internship scheme. The internships have all been in policy divisions within the Department of the Taoiseach. The work experience given to our JobBridge interns includes research, communications, policy analysis, summarising of data, report drafting and networking. JobBridge interns are given training in desk research and information gathering. They also work with internal document management systems, perform data entry and apply themselves to financial management, general administration and other office duties. Interns are given practical experience of how central Government works and learn about policy-making structures and initiatives across Government Departments. Broadly, JobBridge interns get hands-on experience in various aspects of the work of my Department and leave with an enhanced understanding of Government policy. In line with the JobBridge scheme requirements, each intern is assigned a mentor during his or her full internship in my Department. At the end of their internships and, again, in line with JobBridge scheme requirements, interns are given a reference and a host organisation evaluation form for their own use. The JobBridge internship scheme has, to date, proven rewarding both for participating interns and for my Department.
I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. There must have been glee among the civil servants when the tally was done and it was found that the number of whole-time equivalent staff stood at 179.98, given that the ceiling is set at 181. The real issue here is the JobBridge scheme. Across the economy there is a sense that the JobBridge scheme has been abused, though I do not suggest that this applies to the Taoiseach's Department. It is felt that real jobs have been taken by JobBridge interns who, in turn, will not have a chance to get the job at the end of a nine- or 12-month stint. Some schools have applied for special needs assistants through the JobBridge scheme.
Does the Taoiseach accept that where vacancies arise they should be filled as real jobs? This applies across the board but particularly in the public service. JobBridge should not be abused to fill vacancies. Have the pathways to work of the eight JobBridge interns hosted by the Department been evaluated? I do not doubt that it can be a fruitful and beneficial experience to work as an intern at the Department of the Taoiseach, but I would also like to think it could lead to employment prospects in both the public and private sectors. Does the Taoiseach have figures relating to the pathways to work of JobBridge interns across Government Departments and the Civil Service? How have these interns developed in terms of employment opportunities?
Interns come to work for the Department on the basis that they understand the moratorium on recruitment, and I believe this applies across the public service. The random inspection regime on JobBridge internships shows that very few interns are dissatisfied with the scheme. Some 97% of all JobBridge inspections find that the scheme's requirements are fully satisfied. A total of 330 interns, including 24 who are currently active, have been hosted in Government Departments. Jobseekers who apply for internships in the public sector do so knowing there is a moratorium on recruitment. Potential interns choose which internships to apply for based on their own needs, intentions and aspirations. Internships in the public sector are highly regarded and are an asset to jobseekers who subsequently seek private sector employment.
I have met a number of interns in various areas of the public service and in different Departments and I have also met interns in private enterprise. The vast majority enjoy the experience and find it improves their CVs. An internship can give a person the motivation and incentive to develop particular skills, and many interns go on to set up companies or be recruited on a full-time basis. Obviously, this happens more often in the private sector than in the public sector. The interns I spoke to in the Department of the Taoiseach enjoyed the experience and found it gave a sense of job satisfaction and an opportunity to gain employment.
I think the Deputy asked me about costs, but I do not have the figures.
I asked whether there had been any evaluation of the 330 interns across the public service. Where have they gone? Has anyone analysed whether the scheme is working in terms of employability? The original idea was that the skills and experience acquired by JobBridge participants would give them a chance of a job after the internship, if not in the public service then in the private sector.
I am sure such an evaluation has been done. Of the 330 interns who went through the system in various locations in Departments, 97% deemed it to be a very satisfactory and enjoyable experience. I am sure an analysis has been carried out on where these interns went afterwards and whether they gained permanent employment, be it in the private sector or by starting a business. I will forward that information to Deputy Martin.
In recent years quite a number of workers have joined the public sector on insecure temporary contracts and have been retained on successive contracts beyond the permissible period. When such workers took legal cases seeking permanent status, they succeeded, but were then granted conditions of employment inferior to those in their original contracts. Are any such workers employed by the Department of the Taoiseach?
The Taoiseach should be aware that JobBridge has been discredited by ordinary people, despite the fact that he lauded the scheme highly in this House. JobBridge has been used to provide cheap labour to private companies and, more recently, the public sector. School secretaries, special needs assistants and public sector cleaners have been taken on through JobBridge, so it is just a source of cheap labour.
Is it not fraudulent, for example, in the Taoiseach's Department or any public sector Department, to take on internships or internees under that scheme when one of the factors that has been put forward in favour of it is that JobBridge interns may get employment with the host company? That is impossible in the public sector. They cannot get employment because of the barrier, in place up to recently in any case, in the public sector, including in the Taoiseach's Department.
In reality the Taoiseach is flattering people to deceive. Why would they not profess themselves delighted if the Taoiseach happened to meet them in the corridor? They are hardly going to complain to the Taoiseach about it. The reality is that it is cheap labour. It is filling gaps that should be filled by permanent full-time staff. It is filling the gaps left by the reduction in public sector numbers over the years. Worst of all is the Gateway project under which hundreds of workers on the dole are to be taken on by local authorities to work for nothing in reality. They will be doing jobs that should be done and would have been done previously by full-time public sector or local authority workers. We should call things by their names. I call on the Taoiseach to respond.
We are talking about Department of the Taoiseach staff and the number of interns in the Department and throughout the public service in general. Deputy Higgins made the point about whether this scheme was exploitative. I agree with Deputy Higgins that there were several cases that should not have been advertised as JobBridge positions. It is important to note that this scheme is monitored rigorously by the Department of Social Protection. That is why the cleaner, caretaker and the teaching assistant posts were removed from the JobBridge list. They should not have been there in the first place.
I believe in the national JobBridge internship scheme. It came about as a result of recommendations from the private and public sectors arising from the situation whereby young qualified people were unable to get jobs because they did not have any experience and they could not get any experience if the did not have a job. JobBridge is what it says: it is a bridge to a job for a more permanent and better range of employment. The scheme also gives unemployed people a chance to match and increase their skills so that they can learn through practical experience and on-the-job coaching and mentoring.
The figures released by the Tánaiste recently show that since the introduction of the scheme in 2011, a total of 33,068 internship placements have commenced to date, that there are 6,238 jobseekers currently on placements and that a further 2,659 posts are advertised currently on the JobBridge website. A total of 330 interns, including the 24 now active, have been employed by Departments. I am sure that either the Department of Social Protection or the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have undertaken an analysis of those who have gone through the system, how they are being tracked, where they are now, whether they are employed and whatever else.
While I agree with Deputy Higgins that several cases were put up on the JobBridge website that were not in accordance with the terms of the scheme, it is being monitored by the Department of Social Protection and those inferior positions that were advertised were taken down and removed. The numbers speak for themselves.
What is the difference between the scheme and Government policy?
Deputy Higgins should speak to the young people who have gone through the JobBridge system. The vast majority have had a very satisfactory experience and have used it to better themselves. That is what it was intended for. There will always be numbers who might not have got the best from the scheme in terms of where they were employed or what they actually did. However, the point was that young qualified people, people able to perform certain tasks and upskill themselves, were unable to get those opportunities because they could not get a job. That is what the JobBridge scheme is about.
I agree with the Taoiseach. I imagine there are individuals who have had a positive experience but the shortfalls of the JobBridge scheme are now well documented. The intern posts displace existing work. They do not bring about real job creation. They depress wages and exacerbate unemployment. I imagine it would be a fruitful experience for anyone to work in the Taoiseach's Department. It would be a rewarding experience, particularly for a young person, but it is the question of what happens to them afterwards. We should remember that this State has the largest number of young people not in work, education or training throughout the EU. That is the reality of our youth unemployment figures.
An Seanadóir Kathryn Reilly has done a report, Youth Matters. I will send a copy to the Taoiseach if he has not read it. It examines critical youth issues, including the Youth Guarantee. There is little provision for young people with disabilities or lone parents or carers and the report examines this too.
JobBridge should be done away with. Sinn Féin has put forward suggestions on how we could be actively promoting JobsPlus, which is about getting people into employment via a scheme as opposed to for a temporary period as interns. Reference was made to what happens to them next. Does the Department of the Taoiseach track the young people who have been in the Department as interns? Can the Taoiseach give the Dáil some sense of how they got on afterwards and whether they got into meaningful employment with proper terms and conditions?
I put a question to the Taoiseach earlier relating to evaluations. He said that if he has any information he will bring it to me. I am surprised that there is no evaluation dimension built in as part of an application to the public service and Departments in particular under the JobBridge scheme. In other words, given that 330 interns have gone through the various Departments, I am surprised no one is following up, if only for research purposes and to validate whether the scheme is of value.
I imagine anyone working in the Department of the Taoiseach would find it a valuable experience. However, what interests most people is the degree to which the scheme actually enables and facilitates a person to enhance his or her capacity to get a job subsequently. It would be worthwhile if someone could evaluate what has happened to the 330 people.
I asked the Taoiseach about the wider dimension to JobBridge and the degree to which it has been abused by quite a number of companies. I have come across a case in which the third JobBridge applicant is now going into the same position; in other words there has been a JobBridge person there before and another before him in turn. Clearly a job is being filled and the scheme is being abused.
I understand the Government has taken a number of companies off the JobBridge list because they have abused it. Deputy O'Dea has been pushing the matter but for some reason the Government is refusing to publish the list of companies that have been taken off the JobBridge scheme because of abusing it. It would help people's confidence in the initiative if there was full transparency in terms of how the scheme is operating and, in that context, companies that, the Department is satisfied, have abused the scheme. The list should be published. It would act as a deterrent to others from abusing the scheme as well.
I have no doubt that the participants in the Department of the Taoiseach have enjoyed it and benefitted from it but we would like to know more about others who did not have the chance or the good fortune to have been employed as an intern in the Taoiseach's office or other offices. They may have been in the private sector and did not enjoy the same experience. As a first step, will the Taoiseach agree to or consider the idea of publishing the companies that have been taken off the JobBridge list or which have been prevented from participating in future because of their abuse of the scheme?
Deputy Adams asked about youth employment and unemployment, which are issues not only here but also in other countries in Europe. During our own Presidency, we promoted very strongly the concept of the Youth Guarantee. Significant moneys were made available in that regard, although they are not such as to deal with anything like the scale of the challenge presented by the overall context. However, it was a reasonable start to the process. The Government has changed the nature of the training agency with SOLAS having replaced FÁS to provide a more practical, skills-based and futuristic approach to what is needed. That is reflected in the nature of the way that training is provided for young people in the hope that they will have a better opportunity to get meaningful employment.
I was asked if the Department had ever refused or terminated a JobBridge internship.
No, I did not ask that.
I will come to it. The answer in my own case is that none of those ever happened in the Department of the Taoiseach. While two internships ended before their nine month completion, one was where an intern got permanent employment and the other for the participant's own reason.
The Department of Social Protection conducts random inspections of companies that participate in the JobBridge scheme. Those inspections show that 97% are very happy in what they do. However, 44 host organisations out of approximately 15,000 have been excluded from further use of the scheme. I have not published the names as it has been deemed inappropriate under the Freedom of Information Acts to release the names of companies that have been excluded from taking on JobBridge interns. As I said, 44 of 15,000 have been excluded. As in all cases in which a decision has been made not to release certain information following a freedom of information request, the requester is fully entitled to appeal that decision in accordance with the provisions of the legislation. I do not know the names of the 44 companies that have been excluded but anyone who writes in and is refused the information has the opportunity to appeal.
Cabinet Committee Discussions
Joe Higgins
Question:8. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Taoiseach when the last meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Economic Recovery and Jobs was held and when the next one is scheduled to take place. [35186/14]
Gerry Adams
Question:9. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach when the last meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Economic Recovery and Jobs took place. [39820/14]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together. The Cabinet sub-committee on economic recovery and jobs last met on 3 November 2014 and is scheduled to meet again in early December.
Over recent months, the Taoiseach and his Government have majored on the so-called "recovery" they say has taken place in the economy. There has been endless propaganda from the Government side. Assuming the Taoiseach gets a chance to talk to ordinary people as he goes about the country, do they tell him what they tell us, which is that they do not feel that recovery and that life is still a struggle for many? They have seen a recovery for the very wealthy, however, and they have seen a recovery in profits for major corporations. Does the Taoiseach agree that there is a huge disconnect between the propaganda the Government has put out and the reality of life for ordinary people? We have seen revelations that major multinational companies, including Irish ones as in the Lux leaks scandal, evade billions of euro in tax for our public services, including health and education, etc. They are allowed to get away with this in the face of a situation where 25 million or 26 million people are unemployed in the European Union and of continuing austerity for our people.
Will the Taoiseach's committee consider how wealth can be transferred from the very wealthy and major corporations with growing profits to ordinary people? Does it strike the Taoiseach that according to the 2012 figures, a one third of 1% increase in the corporate tax rate of that year and the amount of corporation tax brought in that year would more than bring in what will, the Taoiseach hopes, be brought in from water charges, which are a huge burden to so many, next year? Does the Taoiseach not see the complete disparity between the propaganda and the reality?
Is it not shameful that against a situation of what the Taoiseach says is recovery we had the shocking revelation he was asked about earlier of a doubling of families in emergency accommodation in Dublin city in horrific circumstances? For time reasons, I will say no more, but I want the Taoiseach to answer that.
While every job created is a welcome step not least for the person who gets into employment, the Government bandies about employment figures which are simply not true. Since the Taoiseach took over, 47,100 new net jobs have been created. If we take the figures in the west, there has been a marked fall in the numbers in the labour force of just over 7% year on year. That is because 500,000 citizens have emigrated. Even in Dublin, where employment prospects are better, the number of men and women on the live register in Tallaght, which was in the news over the weekend, is almost the same as in the whole of Limerick city. Has the committee considered regionally-based employment targets and does it have any plan to tackle high unemployment in impoverished urban areas? Has it looked at employment in rural Ireland?
Deputy Higgins mentioned propaganda and asked what people say when I meet them. They tell me that they appreciate that the country is moving to a far stronger position than it has been in for quite a number of years, but that they do not feel it in their personal daily lives yet. We must continue to grow our economy to a point where that happens. That means urban and rural must feel the benefit of the sacrifices the people have made. We do not live in any sort of fool's paradise about this. People with real problems approach me and every other Deputy in the House every day of the week.
There are signs of confidence, however. Interest rates have fallen from 15% to less than 2%, unemployment has come down from 15% to just over 11% - and will reach the tens in the next month or so - and consumer confidence is at a higher rate than it has been at for many years. The Government has been able to reduce income tax for the first time in seven years while avoiding any tax increases or cuts in services. That means we are now at the start of a phase of giving back to the most vulnerable and pressurised by returning money to their pockets and giving them choices about where they want to spend it. It is not all about the very wealthy or the major corporations. I came back from America on Saturday morning and the people who work for the airline tell me that Aer Lingus flights are all full on the way out and back to New York, Boston and San Francisco. The tourism industry in New York tells me that the numbers of bookings by Irish people are very much up from what they were. There has been a return to substantial purchases of new cars in July, August and September. These are not by very wealthy people but by ordinary people who have managed to see with greater clarity what lies ahead. What lies ahead is a 1% income tax reduction next year and the year after and, depending on the choice of the people at an election, the year after that.
The major corporations will be subject to a changed regime, with a transition period extending to 2020, through the ending of the double Irish. The Government made a decision on this matter in the recent budget and the stateless concept was ended last year. Ireland continues to play its part, with the OECD, in having the base erosion and profit shifting concept as an international response to a global phenomenon.
At 6 a.m. last Friday, BMS, a major global pharmaceutical company, notified the New York Stock Exchange of its decision to invest €1 billion in Deputy Higgins's constituency. The investment will result in the employment of 1,000 construction workers for three years and, thereafter, of between 400 and 500 top-class specialist research engineers dealing with products dealing with cancers that will emerge on the basis of BMS data. The company will supply the world from the location in question. This investment sends a major signal following the ending of the double Irish because BMS has expressed its confidence that this country measures up. It is appropriate that we should say this to the IDA and its personnel. I met representatives of BMS in September and the work that has been done in the meantime will directly benefit the economy of Deputy Higgins's constituency. I hope that, in one way or another, many of the people who have had a difficult time will be able to avail of the greater economic spread that will arise from the BMS decision to make a €1 billion investment in the constituency represented by Deputies Higgins and Coppinger, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health. These jobs are very welcome.
I am not happy that rural areas have not felt the economic benefits they should have felt. I hope they will do so. This is the reason the Government proposed, in its Common Agricultural Policy programme last year, to allocate approximately €2.5 billion for rural development between 2014 and 2020. The programme has been submitted to the European Commission and I expect it to be approved. It will provide significant opportunities for Leader and community and voluntary groups, with the local authorities, to create jobs in communities throughout the country.
In reducing the level of VAT in the hospitality sector and abolishing travel tax the Government made a clear decision which sustained the hospitality industry and created 35,000 new jobs. Real opportunities are available.
Next Monday, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources will set out a programme for the development of broadband throughout the country by the private and State sectors. This is a fundamental priority for the Government because companies require broadband capacity to do business effectively. These developments and the announcements made on major motorway connections, for example, the opening of the Newlands Cross junction today and the Gort to Tuam motorway project, as well as other road projects in Wexford and elsewhere, are investments and improvements that will result in construction works and job opportunities and benefit the economies of many counties. We still have a long way to go, however.
To answer Deputy Higgins's question, people tell me they have put up with a great deal and while they know the country is in a stronger position than it was, many of them have yet to feel the benefit of this in their homes and personal lives. This is what we want to achieve and the Government's strategy will be to continue to give back what we can to hard-pressed communities and provide opportunities for employment and job creation such as those we discussed.
Written Answers follow Adjournment.