Govt spend on supporting jobseekers has increased by €95 million to €977 million

The Government’s new Pathways to Work initiative aims to help 75,000 long term unemployed people move into the workforce by 2015.  
A large number of people have been affected by the unemployment scourge, either directly or through a loved one who has lost their job. Pathways for Work aims to stop the slide of people into long term unemployment (over 12 months) and to ensure that as many job opportunities as possible are filled by people who are on the live register. The State will engage with every jobseeker to make sure that their first day out of a job is also their first step on the pathway back to work.

This involves a more streamlined approach, with the establishment of the National Employment and Entitlements Service (NEES). In addition to processing welfare entitlements, NEES employees will actively provide needs assessments and engage with newly unemployed people. It will then offer job search assistance or appropriate education, training or work experience opportunities to increase their employability.

Many of the measures involved represent basic common sense and reflect international norms in relation to State involvement in supporting jobseekers. Unfortunately, under the last Government, State support for jobseekers cost a huge amount and delivered little as was evidenced by the FÁS debacle.

I urge jobseekers to engage with their local employment office and to avail of all opportunities to avail of jobs or training opportunities. Jobseekers who refuse to avail of these opportunities will see a reduction in the jobseekers benefit.

Similarly, I urge local businesses to re-engage with their local employment office when they have a vacancy to fill so as they can be matched up with the most suitable jobseekers. The Government has incentivised job creation by reducing VAT in labour intensive sectors such as tourism and halving the lower rate of employers PRSI.

We have a highly skilled and educated workforce and this Government is determined that the mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s, when unemployment remained high even after economic recovery took hold, are not repeated. No one who loses their job should be able to drift without support into long term unemployment.

The Action Plan for Jobs launched today contains progressive measures that will help get the country back to work.

The Action Plan for Jobs will make it cheaper and easier to do business and to create jobs. It will support existing Irish businesses and new start-ups, while helping to attract inward investment from overseas. The Plan will set the environment to achieve the Taoiseach’s aim of having 100,000 more people working and making Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business by 2016.

The Plan changes the way Government interacts with business, by cutting costs and red tape. It contains 15 key actions to make it easier to do business and grow jobs. Under a key element of the plan, County Enterprise Boards will be replaced by a new One Stop Shop micro enterprise support structure. Through a new network of Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities, Enterprise Ireland will provide expert help to start-up businesses at a local level. We want to encourage firms to sell their products abroad in lucrative export markets. Enterprise Ireland will identify a wider group of potential exporting companies under a new Potential Exporters Division. The corporation tax exemption for start-ups will be extended to 2014, and a new Development Capital Scheme will help fund mid-sized indigenous companies with major growth potential.

Accessing credit remains a major challenge for many firms; this will be directly addressed by the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Micro Finance Fund, which will help businesses struggling to get loans. To help indigenous firms grow their business here public procurement will be made more accessible to SMEs and it will be easier for small businesses to win contracts with large multinationals. Funding will also be increased for mentoring and development programmes for SME managers. A range of initiatives will target sectors that have high potential for growth including manufacturing, life-sciences, cloud computing, digital gaming, agri-food and tourism. This sustainable model will consign the bubble-economics policies of the previous Government to history.

This Plan is a working document and its targets will be closely monitored and updated on a quarterly basis. Every Government department must play its part. By restructuring the banks, reforming our employment and training services, establishing NewERA and introducing a more sustainable taxation system the Government has already taken the steps necessary to rebuild our broken economy. This Plan will build on this progress with the ultimate aim of getting Ireland back to work.

The provisions contained in the Finance Bill 2012, on changes to the Universal Social Charge and mortgage interest relief, are aimed at alleviating the pressure on those most in need and rebalancing the scales in favour of fairness.

The publication of the Finance Bill 2012, gives effect to the targeted measures announced in this year’s Budget. Contained within the Bill is a provision to increase mortgage interest relief to 30% for first-time buyers who purchased their homes between 2004 and 2008.

This measure will have a significant impact on many families and young people who bought during the peak and are now mired in negativity equity. This was a pre-election promise made by Fine Gael, which formed part of the Programme for Government, that the naysayers said couldn’t be done. Fine Gael has long recognised the plight of the negative equity generation and I am delighted that the Minister for Finance has been able to deliver on this commitment, despite the difficult economic situation.

Changes to the Universal Social Charge, the exemption threshold for which has been increased from €4,004 to €10,036, will remove 330,000 people from the tax net and put much needed money back in their pockets.

The mistakes of the past, in respect of our heady love affair with property, can never be allowed to happen again. However, every country should have a functioning property market that contributes to Exchequer funds. For this reason, the Minister has included a provision for mortgage interest relief to be available at 25% for first-time buyers who purchase in 2012 and at a rate of 15% for non-first-time buyers. This will encourage those who are hoping to get on the property ladder, or to move house, to do so this year.

The Government is working hard to clean up the mess created by Fianna Fáil over the last decade. The Personal Insolvency Bill, the heads of which have been published recently, together with the targeted and effective measures contained in the Finance Bill, will help to alleviate the pressure on those in negative equity and lower paid workers while offering a stimulus to those hoping to own their own home.