Vol. 487 No. 4
76 Ms Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans, if any, she has to introduce measures to make a further attempt to cut the numbers of over 35's who are long-term unemployed. [4091/98]
108 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extra attention, if any, she proposes to pay to the problem of long-term unemployment as outlined in a speech to the FÁS Opportunities 1998 exhibition on 3 February 1998. [3131/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 108 together.
Reducing unemployment is the Government's prime economic mission over the next five years. Our rate of unemployment has now fallen to less than 10 per cent, in line with the EU average. The fall is welcome, but inadequate. I believe that we can reduce unemployment to around 5 per cent over the next four to five years with the current policies in place. The Government's first budget in December was firmly geared towards increasing employment and reducing unemployment. Among the budget measures that are significant in terms of long-term unemployed persons, including those over 35 years of age, are the extra 7,000 places provided in back to work and community employment and the major changes in family income supplement.
I am engaged in ongoing assessment of labour market policy and policy instruments with a view to ensuring that they are effectively focused on preventing drift into long-term unemployment and securing the maxium reintegration of long-term unemployed people into employment. I am also co-operating with my colleague, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, to ensure that our policies are consistent with assisting the maximum number of unemployed persons back into the labour market.
In addition, I specifically mandated the new board of FÁS to address how to increase the access of long-term unemployed to training programmes; how to enable the long-term unemployed access the higher skills programmes; and how to improve the reintegration of community employment participants into open market jobs.
