Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

A number of new initiatives have been introduced. The useful back to work enterprise scheme encourages innovative people who have ideas to set up their own enterprises. The number of people on the back to education scheme, which is the only guaranteed way of ensuring one does not become long-term unemployed, has increased significantly, to over 20,800, by comparison with last year and the year before. We have introduced the PRSI incentive scheme, which is designed to take people off the live register and put them into work. It has the potential to be costly this year. In order to avail of the scheme, one needs to have been on the live register for at least six months. If people are taken off the live register after six months, they are protected from becoming long-term unemployed. Such people are put into work, which is exactly where many of them want to be. The employer does not have to pay the PRSI for them. That scheme costs €3.3 million for every 1,000 people who participate in it. We reckon that it could cost a significant amount of money this year. It will have the exact effect that the Deputy wants to achieve. It will ensure that people get back into work, rather than staying on the live register for too long.

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