asked the Minister for Labour if he will now amend the employment premium scheme to include persons who were not previously employed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment Premium Scheme.
3.
The premium employment programme was introduced to encourage the re-employment in agriculture and in manufacturing industry of workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the current recession. The conditions as to eligibility are formulated to achieve this objective. The programme is not designed to help persons who were not previously employed.
The problem of persons seeking employment for the first time is a separate one and is being tackled independently of the programme. A scheme to meet the unemployment problems of those seeking their first job is already in operation. The community youth training programme provides employment and training on socially desirable projects for schoolleavers and other unemployed young persons.
Would the Minister not agree that there are many instances where firms who have reduced their work force to the minimum in order to keep afloat could do with some technical expertise from young persons leaving second level education? They are not given any assistance in taking on these people. I am talking about persons who possess certain technical qualifications which would be useful to firms who have reduced their work force to the minimum. They are not permitted to take on these people because they cannot afford to meet the cost in the circumstances. Would he not consider extending the employment premium scheme to cases of this kind?
The premium employment scheme includes any categories the employer wishes to take on in addition to the figure at the start of the programme. It is not confined to any particular grade.
I am referring to persons who have just left colleges of technology and are seeking their first appointment. They are very much required by firms who cannot afford to carry their present work force owing to the load of overheads heaped on them.
The premium employment programme is already in operation. In addition there is the community youth training programme. In that we seek to bring into socially desirable employment young people who have not previously been employed. In this programme we are assisted from the European Social Fund together with our own finances. Our immediate target is to get 1,000 young people into employment under the scheme. Following its success or otherwise, we intend to make a decision on whether it should be extended to other parts of the country. It is in operation in the eastern region already. The necessity is to get suitable projects identified for implementation.
The Minister does not seem to be aware of the point I am trying to make.
I am talking about the existing schemes. There may be validity in what the Deputy says but it does not come under the heading of any of the operations.
I have been in touch with the Minister's Department on the question of firms who wish to acquire some technological expertise in order to make up for the laying off of unskilled personnel they could not afford to carry. They could not get the premium unless they took back some of the people they had laid off.
I am afraid we are having repetition.
The point the Deputy wishes to make is for such firms to take on those who have not been employed before but who have a certain technical excellence. We have no such scheme in operation at present. I will certainly have a look at the possibilities.
How many people have been re-employed under the premium employment programme in the field of agriculture? How many people are employed in the community youth project?
These are separate questions.
We have four schemes in operation under the community youth training programme. We have one in Bray, one in Dún Laoghaire and two in Dundalk. I have not got the exact figure of those employed under that scheme with me. Of course, it is readily available. Our target is for 1,000 young people to come under that scheme. In the premium employment programme the numbers employed in the field of agriculture are very few. Again I have not got the exact figure. The figures are available. I would say less than 100 out of agriculture. That is certainly true. The total numbers employed under the premium employment programme are approaching 5,000.
Would the Minister not agree that an immediate broadening of this programme is called for? We have not achieved even half the target originally set by the Minister.
The Deputy is aware from the details of the scheme that it relies on the co-operation of the employers. Those employers who are ready to take on extra workers over and above those they had at the commencement of the scheme last summer, those who are ready to co-operate with the Government in taking on such workers, will get from us a subsidy of £12 per worker re-employed. The main objective of that programme is to get those who have been declared redundant as a result of the present recession back into employment. We must do everything we can to bring home to employers the advantage there is in the scheme, always realising that it calls for the co-operation of such employers before we can reach our target. With a pick-up in economic activity this spring, it should be possible even at this late stage to realise our target of 10,000 people back to work under the premium employment programme.
Broaden the scheme.
That would defeat the purpose of the scheme.
Would the Minister not agree that the lack of success in this scheme is due to the fact that its terms are so narrow? Would he not agree that a factory in Newbridge which employs 250 men and which is about to close down could only get a premium for every man employed in excess of 250? That is no use in the present economic climate.
After great consideration the scheme was directed to getting people who are unemployed back to work. It is not a question of widening the scheme. It is a question of continuous representations to the employers to avail of the scheme. We must continue to do that. It is too early yet to say we will not succeed in reaching the target of 10,000.