Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Could the Minister tell me where to find out about the eight-week scheme that she mentioned? Can someone on unemployment benefit work for eight weeks without having to de-register? I was not aware of that and it is a superb initiative. It is important that all of us as public representatives disseminate that kind of information to our constituents because this issue has arisen several times.

Where there is no Intreo office, how can an employer assess the profile of people in an area? Is there any facility to make up for the lack of Intreo offices, for example, in west Cork? I welcome the fact that the Minister is spending 5% of her overall budget on supporting people in returning to work. Two of the schemes that are long awaited are Jobstart, the local authority scheme, and JobsPlus, which is for the long-term unemployed. They will be significant developments. What I call the bar-counter politicians have looked for these for many years. These are people who talk over the bar counter and ask why those who are unemployed cannot help the local authorities. That will be a superb initiative and I congratulate the Minister and her officials on the work they have done on it to date. I welcome JobsPlus initiative, under which, rather than giving people money to sit at home, we give an employer money to give them and the employer adds to it. This lets people have the dignity of working.

I have two questions on these initiatives. The Minister mentioned a sum of €13 million for the first year, rising to €34 million for a full year, and said there would be 3,000 places. That works out at €11,000 per place, so I imagine there is something wrong there.