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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 31 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 9

Cesiteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Jobs for Young People.

John Bruton

Ceist:

11 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if, in view of his announcement in his speech to the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis about jobs for young people, he will outline the plans, if any, the Government have to put this into effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

In my Ard-Fheis speech I stated that "the greatest challenge we face in the nineties — the one that will show if we succeed as a society — is to create jobs here at home for all our young people who want to work in Ireland". As the House is aware, the Government are undertaking a number of initiatives to promote job creation in addition to measures already taken such as the Task Force on Employment, which combines the views of the social partners, Government Departments and the commercial State bodies.

The new initiatives include: the ministerial committee chaired by myself and the complementary task force to implement the Culliton report so that all obstacles to the creation of more jobs in industry and services are removed and all necessary measures to accelerate the provision of such jobs are speedily taken; and the Task Force on Tourism, which is now in operation, with the special remit to increase employment in tourism, which has unique potential for the emloyment of young people.

In addition, we have negotiated the details of the new employment and training schemes with the European Commission, which, over twelve months, will provide employment or training for 25,000 persons who are on the Live Register for at least two months. Young people, who represent 23 per cent of the Live Register, will greatly benefit from these schemes.

The Government's most recent initiative has been to propose the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Employment, which should be seen as a major initiative to harness the ideas of all political parties in providing employment for young people.

All Government Departments have been asked to bring forward new ideas or proposals for the creation of sustainable jobs.

Would the Taoiseach not agree that the biggest obstacle to job creation in this country is the extra cost requirement on employers who want to employ somebody? Would he not agree that an employer wishing to employ someone has to pay 57p in the pound over and above what is received by the employee simply to employ that person? Would he agree that nothing sold in the shops, apart from cigarettes, is as severely taxed as is the creation of a job? Would he agree that some employers face an additional tax, equivalent to 20p in the pound, to cover the cost of insuring their workers under employers' liability insurance? Finally, would he agree that the most crucial issue that must be dealt with is finding the means to reduce the cost of creating a job?

There is a contribution towards the problem in all of the areas to which the Deputy has referred. The cost of employing someone is certainly a factor, but it is not the factor that the Deputy would like us all to believe. The Government did undertake a 12-month trial in which anyone taking on a new employee did not have to pay PRSI. The response to that trial was very minimal compared to the result one would expect after continually hearing the argument that Deputy Bruton is making. In relation to the question of the social costs on employment, I am sure that when the Deputy studies the issue he will agree that Ireland has one of the lowest overall levels of social cost compared with payroll costs in Europe. As a consequence we are very competitive with our EC partners. Certainly in relation to the level of taxation — an area identified as being in need of reform by the Government as far back as 1989 — I was the first Minister in 20 years to begin reducing the rates, lowering the standard rate from 35 per cent, which is now down to 28 per cent and the top rate from 58 per cent, which is now down to 48 per cent. Nonetheless, they need to be lowered even further.

There are other costs, such as the cost of State services. One thing that contributed most to rendering our economy more competitive in recent years was the fact that we were able to hold down the cost of electricity for three years, hold down the cost of telecommunications and many other services, because they must be recouped by the private sector in selling their goods abroad. All those areas are being tackled and will continue to be tackled by this Government.

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