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

I thank the Minister for Social Protection for coming to the House to take this Topical Issue matter. The greatest scourge that the country and the economy face are the 190,000 people who have been unemployed for 12 months or more. For some time I have been concerned about the number of measures the Government is taking to address this problem. I first submitted my proposal, called A Ticket to Work, more than 18 months ago. The proposal is modelled on similar schemes implemented in the United States of America and would give a voucher worth approximately €200 to unemployed individuals, which is the equivalent of what they would receive in unemployment benefit. This voucher could be passed on to an employer in return for employment. I am involved in the west Cork jobs initiative and am fortunate to work with 12 employers. We have done considerable research on this scheme, including a survey of the attitude of employers towards it. Eight out of ten employers considered it favourably and expressed an interest in taking people off the live register in return for voucher style contributions towards the cost of employing them. The amount paid would be in the region of 50% of the cost.

When I first submitted this proposal to one of the Minister's colleagues 18 months ago and I met departmental officials to discuss it, I was told that a similar scheme was already in place, namely, the Revenue assist scheme. However, only 350 people avail of the that scheme per annum. I am not a genius at mathematics but at that rate it would take up to 542 years to deal with the 190,000 long-term unemployed. It is clear that the Government needs to take more action. Our record in helping the long-term unemployed is less than stellar and desperate situations require radical action.

I submitted the A Ticket to Work proposal to the Minister and the Secretary General of her Department, as well as to the Minister for Finance, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Economic Management Council. I am aware from discussions at various levels of a proposal to introduce a JobsPlus scheme, which essentially mirrors the spirit of the scheme I have proposed. However, I am concerned that we are half way through the lifetime of this Government. We cannot afford to get it wrong. There are approximately 85,000 SMEs employing 700,000 people in this country. My research indicates that eight out of ten SMEs favour the scheme but even if only one in every two took it up, it would go a long way to giving jobs to the 36,000 persons aged between 20 and 40 who have been unemployed for 12 months or more.

For such a scheme to be successful, it must be focused on the unemployed person rather than the SME. The Government's proposals to date are admirable but we must refocus our efforts towards the unemployed person by giving him or her the licence and, with it, the opportunity to approach an employer with a voucher worth 50% of his or her salary. If we target the unemployed we will have a better chance of persuading people to be more active in seeking suitable employers and the scheme will sell itself.

Communication is also very important. The name "JobsPlus" is along the lines of JobBridge and would simply cause difficulties with employers. I would prefer to name the scheme A Ticket to Work or a Passport to Work. I hope the Minister takes my suggestions on board.

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