Vol. 444 No. 6
47 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if his attention has been drawn to difficulties for small businesses in getting access to training assistance and grants for the employment of graduates; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am not aware of any particular difficulties being experienced by small businesses in obtaining training assistance. In fact the training support scheme operated by FÁS which is available to firms engaged in manufacturing industry, internationally traded services, physical distribution, wholesale, retail and the motor sectors is specifically geared towards the small business and grants are targeted on a sliding scale with owners-managers of firms employing 12 or less eligible for 80 per cent grant aid. It is of course the case that for all businesses, large or small, not all demands can be met all the time because of limited budgets.
In relation to the employment of graduates, the Techstart programme which is administered by Forbairt, on behalf of my Department, facilitates the employment by small and medium sized enterprises of science or engineering graduates for up to one year. The aim of the programme is to improve company performance through the effective use of technology and it is targeted at companies with limited technical resources. In practice 60 per cent of participating companies have less than 30 employees. About 160 graduates will be placed with companies under the programme this year.
