Govt fails to promote its own 12,000 jobs scheme
Issued : Sunday 16 May, 2010
Statement by Roisin Shortall TD
Minister of State, Department of Health with responsibility for Primary Care
Five months after it announced it in the Budget, the Government is still not taking applications for a PRSI incentive scheme for employers, which was supposed to take up to 12,000 new people off the live register
On Budget night and in several press statements since, various Government Ministers have promised to waive employers PRSI where they take on a person who has been unemployed for some time. It was one of the few initiatives on jobs in the Budget, and would, we were told, save employers €3,000 per job. €36 Million was set aside for the scheme in the Budget.
In a Dáil reply this week, Minister O'Cuiv could not provide details of the number of employers availing of the scheme or the number of employees recruited so far. This is because there is no application process yet.
The Government says that the scheme will be back-dated to the start of the year but because of a delay in finalising all of the details, various Government agencies have not been in a position to promote it. In the middle of an unemployment crisis, this lack of urgency is unforgivable.
There are still no published details on issues such as how you actually apply, the rules to guard against job displacement, what constitutes a full-time worker, and whether the incentive will apply on an exemption or on a refund basis. All of these things are critical to employer take-up.
FAS mentions a PRSI exemption scheme on its website but it appears to relate to a previous, now abandoned scheme and a link that is provided to the Department of Social and Family Affairs website for more details comes up blank. See: http://www.fas.ie/en/Allowances+and+Grants/Employers+PRSI+Exemption+Scheme.htm
There is a page devoted to the scheme on the Department's website since February but it only provides an outline of the scheme and says the scheme "will be developed over the coming weeks and launched early in 2010".
Enterprise Ireland does not appear to mention the scheme on its website.
It is not clear if the local Enterprise Boards or area partnerships are promoting the scheme.
Legislation to underpin the scheme was promised for Spring 2010 but has not yet appeared.
The Government has lost five months on this. It should have had the scheme ready from the start of the year. It should be breaking down the door of employers encouraging them to apply. Instead, it hasn't even worked out how the scheme will operate.
The Government rushed through a social welfare bill before Christmas to legislate for welfare cuts - why is the same urgency not shown when there are jobs at stake?
Every party in the Dáil has proposed a PRSI refund scheme of one kind or another. There is no political obstacle to this measure. Neither is there a financial one. The money has already been budgeted for and if there was full take up, it would represent a net saving to the State of over €200 M. Why can't the Government just get on and implement it?
Question No: 287 Ref No: 19088/10
To the Minister for Social Protection
To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of employers availing of the employers PRSI exemption as announced in Budget 2010; and the number of employees covered
- Róisín Shortall.
* For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 11th May, 2010.
R E P L Y
Minister for Social Protection (Éamon Ó Cuív T.D.):
Full details of the Employer Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme, including the application procedure, will be announced shortly. It will be administered by the Department of Social Protection.
The scheme will run for the calendar year 2010 only. However, any qualifying employment created in 2010 will be eligible for the scheme, which will be structured so that employment created prior to the launch can participate for 12 months forward from the time of launch and employment created later in the year will participate for 12 months to the corresponding date in 2011.
ENDS
