Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 47: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, in view of the fact that the numbers on the live register have increased by more than 120,000 in a little more than 12 months, that there are more people on the live register than ever before and the daily announcements of job losses, she will declare a jobs emergency; the steps she is taking to stem the number of job losses, to provide new training opportunities for those who have lost their jobs and to encourage the creation of new employment opportunities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7289/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The total number of people on the live register for January 2009 is 327,861, which is an increase of 146,412 since January 2008. The live register is not designed to measure unemployment, as it includes part time, seasonal and casual workers entitled to unemployment benefit. Employment and unemployment are measured by the quarterly national household survey and published by the Central Statistics Office. In the third quarter of 2008, which is the most recent quarter for which data is available, employment decreased by 25,200 over 12 months to a current total of 2,120,800. Unemployment increased by 53,300 in the same period to 160,000. The CSO is releasing fourth quarter results of the quarterly national household survey next Friday, 27 February.

The rise in unemployment is particularly unwelcome and is a sign of the difficult times that global economies are facing. The Government is determined to do all in its power to support the rising number of people who have lost their jobs. My Department, FÁS and the Department of Social and Family Affairs are working together to respond quickly and effectively to the rising live register numbers. FÁS employment services and FÁS local employment services are putting in place measures designed to provide increased capacity for the rise in referrals from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, and the increased number of unemployed seeking job search assistance voluntarily. The implementation of these measures has increased the capacity of job search services from 6,500 to 12,250 persons per month.

To assist individuals through the provision of education and training opportunities, I recently announced the availability of 51,000 new training places under the FÁS training initiatives strategy. These places are in addition to the 27,000 places that were previously planned for 2009, under the bridging foundation training, specific skills training and traineeships programmes. They are specifically tailored for individuals who wish to add to their existing skills level and improve their prospects of re-entering the labour market.

In response to the significant downturn in construction related activity since the beginning of 2008, FÁS has established a training fund to enable redundant workers to provide a timely response to identified training and re-training needs for low skilled and redundant craft workers from the construction sector. This will enable individuals to secure a speedy return to work. Where this cannot be secured, it will provide relevant upskilling opportunities so that job seekers can secure employment in alternative sectors. FÁS is also focusing on providing retraining opportunities for redundant construction workers. These include redundant apprentices being allowed to move on to their next off-the-job phase of training without having to do the next on-the-job phase.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

A register of redundant apprentices has been established by FÁS and the institutes of technology to identify these people at the earliest possible stage and FÁS has prioritised the need to locate employers to sponsor the completion of the apprentices' off-the-job training. These measures will operate in parallel with the FÁS employer-based redundant apprentice rotation scheme, which aims to provide up to 500 redundant apprentices with on-the-job training with certain approved employers on a rotation basis during 2009.

The Government intends to achieve greater capacity within existing resources to meet the ongoing challenges in the labour market. In this context, we will bring forward further measures to make training and education services available to a greater number of unemployed persons over the coming weeks and months to ensure timely and comprehensive access to the full range of services provided by FÁS.

The Government's focus will also be very much on supporting and promoting enterprise development to create new jobs. The enterprise development agencies of my Department, including IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, are working to ensure that we continue to grow the economy and create jobs, even in the current challenging climate. The pipeline of new business for which IDA Ireland is competing is as strong as at any time in recent years. To continue to facilitate this we need to ensure that our competitiveness is sustained into the future.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Unemployment is rising at the rate of 1,500 per day. Two thirds of those unemployed are men and 25% of them are under the age of 25. Unpaid redundancies are costing the Government €50 million per year. The estimated cost to the State for each unemployed person is around €20,000, when social welfare contributions and taxes forgone to the State are taken into account. I estimate that the total cost of 400,000 unemployed people is €8 billion per year, but if Deputy Varadkar's figures are right, then it will cost €10 billion per year. That is a huge amount of resources.

Can these resources be invested in educating and upskilling the potential workforce? The key recommendation of the national skills strategy group, which reported in 2007, was that the education sector is the major vehicle for the necessary upskilling which is required. We told the Minister about the redundancies last year, yet she just threw up her hands. Why was that redundancy package not put in place last year? There is no use sticking one's finger in the dyke, when the water is cascading in and about to drown us all.

Why are the 51,000 people all attending FÁS? Why should they not be placed with VECs, which could provide another opportunity for retraining. FETAC, PLCs and institutes of technology provide a wide range of courses that allow for upskilling and retraining. They can focus on the design and delivery of courses in sustainable energy and green technology techniques. Why are the redundant apprentices all attending FÁS?

A headline in one today's newspapers states that the education cuts will cost at least 9,000 school leavers and jobless people a place on a further education course from next September. There are many jobs being lost at 33 VECs. Is there any joined up thinking taking place at all?

Is the Minister going to do anything for indigenous industry? Are we afraid of bringing in employment grants to help to get people back to work? Is the back-to-work allowance scheme going to be expanded? Will the VTOS be expanded? Is the back-to-education allowance still curtailed by the imposition of stupid limits? The Minister should get rid of all the eligibility criteria and get the people moving. We are in a new situation that requires drastic solutions, not the same solutions dressed up in a new bottle.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I can only answer questions that are relevant to my Department. FÁS is the agency that provides the training opportunities for my Department.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Is that not the problem? Why does the Government not integrate them? On a point of order, what is the role of the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey? There is taxpayers' money involved here.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I ask the Deputy to take his seat.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Deputy Haughey is Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science, which has responsibility for VECs, PLCs, FETAC and so on.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I am sure that would be an excellent question.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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There are 300,000 people unemployed and I am here to ask questions for them.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy has asked a long series of questions, and the Tánaiste must be afforded the chance to respond.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is as sincere as everybody else in the House about this issue, and I would like to tell him that we have a co-ordinated approach and we work within all the Departments that are relevant to training and upskilling. The Minister of State is involved in the co-ordination of the skills programme and the reorientation of the skills needs of workers. That is only a part of all that is happening. We have provided a facility for 2,200 redundant young people to allow them to fulfil their opportunities from an educational perspective. We are working with the Minister for Education and Science and with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to provide new initiatives in the back to education scheme and the back to work scheme. There is a co-ordinated approach in dealing with these issues. We have short, medium and long-term resolutions to these problems.

We are also working on the task of sustaining people in employment by supporting industry. The methods as to how that can be done are being pursued with industry to ensure that the greatest outcomes will be afforded to people. We cannot have a situation where we have training for training's sake. It must be linked to where new opportunities will arise. On that basis, the skills strategy is being re-orientated to deal with the immediacy of what is happening. That is what we are doing with the convergence and the transferability of skills from people with existing skills and from others. We are working towards other programmes for graduates and others with different skill types. These are not necessarily the focus of FÁS.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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As a member of the Government, the Tánaiste is responsible for the provision of credit. I know a person in south Westmeath who started a business from scratch, and who now employs eight people. The person changed the business from that of a sole trader to a limited company on 1 February, and sought €3,000 for an overdraft, something that already existed when the business was that of a sole trader. The bank refused the company the overdraft, even though the taxpayers are putting money into that same bank. The company had invested €200,000 of its own money and was investing a further €50,000 of profits into a development project, which would employ up to 20 people.

I wrote to Mr. Brian Goggin, the chief executive of Bank of Ireland. He must have known I was coming back to the House today. I e-mailed him on the 13 February and received a reply.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy may not go into such specifics.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Specifics? It is our money. That is specific. He replied and said he would investigate. Some €3,000 could provide the opportunity for 20 jobs. The Minister should haul those boys in and tell them it is our money. We want it given out to those people to create those jobs. An additional 12 more jobs in rural Ireland is like 1,200 in a large urban area.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I have had an opportunity to meet with all State agencies, including Údarás na Gaeltachta, which is part of a working group that took place last week between us and the banks where we examined new opportunities for investment. We also examined the issues the Deputy raised which are pertinent to all of us in business. We expressly said if we are to sustain employment and create new opportunities, we must allow those entrepreneurs to continue in that capacity. We are also examining how guidance for smaller companies through the county enterprise boards in providing new opportunities, such as refundable loans, would allow a little more traction for such companies. The Minister of State is dealing with this.

It is a matter of concern that some of the banks do not have a business acumen. On that basis my agency, Enterprise Ireland, will make available people with business expertise in a new initiative with the banks to allow them the opportunity to have a greater acumen and support business, which is a most important initiative on which we have embarked. Deputy Penrose may rest assured that is being followed through.

John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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That is good to hear.