I will try to clear up some of the misunderstandings with regard to general labour market issues and training. Without making a partisan point on behalf of the Government, it is a fact that since the Government took office the live register has been reduced by over 102,000 people. Any Government which did not respond to the changes occurring in that environment would be very foolish.
We have sought to reposition some of our policies in relation to training. Substantially more money is being provided for training the employed. As I said earlier, if we want to maintain our success and level of employment, the challenge is to ensure that companies remain competitive and move up the value chain in many instances. This requires a huge change from the workforce. An enormous effort must be made at company level to ensure that employees are ready for that type of change and can cope with it. Nothing can happen without people. We live in a knowledge based environment where knowledge and ideas and their conversion into products and services is the critical issue. It is much more important than natural resources. It is about brainware and the capacity of individuals.
Skillsnet was kick-started by the Government but it is very much a training programme involving employers and the trade union movement. Approximately 2,500 companies are now involved in that training initiative although it was only launched a year ago. Enormous benefits are being reaped from it. Companies in the same sector come together in a type of network and they can learn much from each other about best practice and how to develop appropriate training policies for their needs.
This year there will be 25,000 apprentices. This is an incredible increase on the level a couple of years ago. This relates to training for the employed rather than training of the unemployed. Given the way funds are allocated in the Estimates there may be some misunderstanding. However, the challenge in relation to apprentices moving from one stage to the next is to ensure that the education resource is adequate. There were some difficulties but they are being resolved to enable people to move speedily from one part of an apprenticeship to the next stage with a view to completion and there is not a big gap. Many people might be tempted in that kind of environment to take a job because of the buoyancy in the economy. It is important that our apprentices remain in apprenticeship and complete them as quickly as possible. We have resolved most of the delays in moving from one to another with the Department of Education and Science.
Community employment will be reduced. There used to be one community employment place for every six long-term unemployed people. Now we have one for one, which is an incredible ratio. The Government has agreed to reduce the figure from 40,000 in 1998 to 28,000 over the next couple of years.
I accept Deputy Flynn's view that many worthwhile activities are supported by community employment, like caretakers, teaching assistants, school secretaries and many voluntary bodies. They would not be able to function in the absence of community employment. However, they are issues for other Departments, not for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I intend to conclude discussions with other Ministers to ensure that the worthwhile activities we all want to see continue on a permanent footing, but are not necessarily dependent on any decisions that may be made from a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment point of view.
My job and that of my Department is to ensure that we have a sufficient number of people for the jobs that are being created. The Chairman said we have had to make some radical decisions on some of these issues to ensure that we are able to fill the emerging jobs being created and sustain our economic growth. We must also ensure there are enough training places and that there is a sufficient emphasis on the training of the employed and the unemployed. Some of the issues around that are changing.
My attitude to many of these issues is flexibility. It is not possible to have hard and fast rules devised at the top that apply in an inappropriate way to individuals. That is why we have allowed for flexibility in relation to the jobs initiative and to much of the community employment activity. New guidelines have been published for the jobs initiative, which was due to end after three years at the end of December. It was then extended by six months. I do not want to see anybody return to the live register or to claiming the dole. That would not be sensible, notwithstanding what criteria might have been appropriate as a result of what the consultants recommended.
Flexibility has been introduced. The onus is on FÁS to either find a training place or a job for any individual who is going to complete their jobs initiative at the end of June. That is the right strategy because I have encountered many people who have been on various support programmes. The concept of these programmes is to help them progress to the labour market. That is why we introduced the concept of community employment when the market was not producing a sufficient number of jobs and we had to deal with big issues, such as high unemployment at a rate of 17%, and mass emigration.
Many of the policies put in place in very different circumstances are still with us. If we are keeping them we must refocus them because it would not make sense to have the same strategies when unemployment was at a rate of 17% and we were losing 6% of the population in net terms through emigration. We now have 1,000 people a week coming to live in Ireland legally. Half of them are Irish returning home, a further 30% are other Europeans coming to work here while the remainder are from further afield.
In view of the fact that there are serious labour shortages in many sectors, the Government has decided to introduce the concept of a working visa. Wherever there is a need which we cannot fill from our own resources we must bring in people from other countries, for example, in IT, nursing, the building professions, such as engineering, architecture and planning. I understand technicians are also required. In view of other matters that have arisen in the last few weeks, I have not had the opportunity to apply my mind fully to this and take advice. I intend to do it quickly.
The working visa will be granted to individuals for a two year period. It is renewable. When individuals arrive they do not have to stay with the company who initially employs them because that would be unreasonable and impossible to police. We must take that kind of measure because of developments. Labour force growth is falling from a high of 4% to approximately 2%, so it must be supplemented from outside.
I continue to be concerned that people in Ireland continue to be unemployed. My first priority is to seek to give them the skills, in so far as I can through Government agencies and policies. Second, we want to see more women re-enter the workforce. Although women under the age of 35 years have the same participation rate as other northern European countries, which traditionally have had the highest levels of female participation in the labour market, the participation rate of men and women over the age of 45 and 55 years is quite low.
Some of the budgetary decisions on the separation of individuals for tax purposes were made with the view to encouraging greater labour force participation. Many married women returning to work immediately hit the top rate of tax and many of them said it was not worth their while. The budget has encouraged some of them to return to the workforce, but we need to go further. Some of them need to be equipped with the skills that are required for the emerging jobs.
I am examining a host of initiatives to deal with the return of older people to the labour force. Many tasks could be done if we had measures in place to encourage those who are retired to return to work. Perhaps many of the public servants who left the workforce in a different era might return, but there are many obstacles militating against women returning to the public service. They must repay their gratuity and start at the bottom of the scale. I do not suggest this will solve all the problems but I have outlined issues we could address. The priority is to equip Irish people as far as possible but to take other measures where deficiencies exist.
There have been difficulties within the Department with the work permit regime because of the volume of applications. There has been a huge percentage increase in the last year or two. I understand that 95% or 96% of all applications for work permits have been granted. The Department intends to look at how the work permit system is processed. Perhaps the form could be changed to put the onus on the employer to certify certain things rather than an application being made followed by an onus on the public servants to establish certain facts, such as that somebody will be paid the minimum wage. If we were to change the onus of proof in terms of the application we could speed things up.
Companies wonder why it takes a couple of weeks to make a decision. Some of it has to do with personnel problems, which are being addressed, but much of it has to do with the staff being satisfied that nobody will be discriminated against or exploited. In the case of a domestic arrangement, where an individual has perhaps been brought in from the Philippines, I want to be certain that such a person will not be exploited because they have very little by way of protection. They are aliens in this country and may not know anybody. They are very dependent on the family employing them and once the permit has been granted it is very difficult for the Department to police it. The Department must, therefore, satisfy itself that there are no problems. Some of this takes longer than one would wish, but many of the public servants are working very hard on it.
Different definitions can apply to what is meant by the social economy. It could be argued that it is that part of the economy where worthwhile activity can be done, but it cannot be done commercially. That is a worthy definition, but it is more of a wealth rather than an enterprise related issue. Our concept of it, and for which we have sought support, is that there are many activities that take time to become commercial and that no financial institution would support for obvious reasons. The idea that IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland or even the enterprise boards would support it is not real.
The social economy model we have been promoting has been agreed to by the social partners. It had its genesis in the voluntary pillar in the social partnership. We have been trying to proceed in a meaningful way to help to establish activities in communities, especially in disadvantaged communities, that could not otherwise happen and, over time, to seek to make them as commercial as possible. Otherwise we will get into an area of activity that will never end.
Deputy Broughan referred to a garden centre that is making money. If it is making money it does not need State support. The Deputy said it was making money because it is being subsidised.
