Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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When the Department introduces the return-to-work dividend for families, whereby they will be able to hold onto some of those social welfare payments in respect of children, I hope this will be a significant incentive for people to return to work. The other point pertains to the Department's employment service and if the Deputy has specific examples, I ask him to pass them to the Department's managers on the ground, because we have a contract arrangement. We have a social contract with people who are unemployed, whereby those who are at work and who pay taxes and PRSI, as well as businesses, are supporting a good social welfare system on the understanding that when work is available, those who are in receipt of jobseeker's payments will make themselves available. Moreover, the Department will help them in getting ready to be able to do that work successfully. They do not really have an option of turning down a serious job prospect. That is not acceptable and if people refuse to co-operate, the Department can and does operate sanctions. It can reduce payments to them and has done so in approximately 3,000 cases thus far. For the most part, however, people want to go back to work and this is not really a big problem for the Department. Consequently, if the Deputy has specific examples, he might talk to the local managers in west Cork, which would be really helpful to the Department. Alternatively, he should pass them on to me and I will take it up.

Another point is that as we develop a culture of people going back to work, more people will expect to go back. JobsPlus has been something of a runaway success and almost 3,000 people are on that scheme, whereas the Department's target for this year was 2,000 participants. In this initiative, the Department pays employers to take on people who have been unemployed for one year or two years. In the case of those who had been unemployed for one year, there is a cashback payment of slightly more than €300 for each month in which the employer employs the person. If the person has been unemployed for more than two years, there is a cashback payment of €418 for each month in which people are employed, for up to two years. This has been very popular and the Department has been obliged to expand the scheme. Moreover, 60% to 70% of the people taken on have been unemployed for more than two years. This initiative is based on measures of which I am aware in countries such as Austria and Germany in which one incentivises both the unemployed person and the employer and with this, one can make sure that people who are on the live register have a real chance to benefit from the increased availability of employment. This is critical for Ireland's as a country.