Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I have some questions on JobsPlus. Originally an important part of the Revenue job assist scheme was that those who were on it could avail of an additional tax relief to try to help people out of the trap when returning to work, but that does not exist in this scheme. Was any consideration given to introducing that? What is the budget for JobsPlus and what is the maximum number of jobs it might support? What are the pay levels for the jobs the employers have applied to JobsPlus at the moment? I am concerned that this might encourage some employers to use JobsPlus to subsidise the minimum wage jobs. People on minimum wage would then end up being able to avail of FIS, which would then be a further State subsidy meaning that those jobs are not sustainable in the long term. That raises the whole question of Intreo and all that, but we will go into that at another time.

On Gateway, there are references to on-the-job training. When Tús was introduced there was no training budget. Is there a specific training budget for Gateway? Does the local authority pay for it? Will participants on the projects listed be able to avail of courses such as Safe Pass, manual handling, first aid, driving and ECDL. All those courses should be given to jobseekers anyway. Will that be front-loaded for those availing of Gateway?

Can social welfare recipients put their names forward? I had many criticisms of Tús. One criticism from some people was that they wanted to take part but they had to sit back and hope they would be selected. Can people put their names forward for this?

The placement will last for 22 months which will allow for other development opportunities to be provided via the local authorities. I hope the embargo on public service jobs will be lifted or otherwise it will be like the JobBridge where State agencies have used that scheme with no hope of the person getting a job within the State sector at the end of it.

It is miserly that participants are only getting €20 on top of what they would have been getting anyway. Some people might work 19.5 hours a week for almost two years with no job at the end of it and a €20 top up. While these people are not paying tax because they do not come within the tax bracket, because PRSI is levied on total, earnings a parent of four children, for example, could end up paying PRSI of €18.08 and therefore the benefit other than being in employment would be less than €2. There are anomalies in this and the top up is very miserly.

Has there been a reduction in the numbers of people who have been awarded mortgage interest supplement since the last increase? What other measures are proposed to address long-term dependants on mortgage interest supplement? Ms Faughnan said that approximately 1,000 cases are being progressed under the mortgage-to-rent scheme. However, only 30% of them are in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, which would suggest only 300. That is a very small proportion of the 11,000 people in receipt of mortgage interest supplement. What will happen to address that low number? Is there a problem there?