Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his good wishes and, in his absence, I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his. I thank Senators Boyle and de Búrca for giving me the opportunity to speak to the House about the Government's labour market activation policies, which we have adopted and initiated in light of the present very difficult economic circumstances.

Everybody agrees that the present economic challenge is probably the greatest since the early 1980s. However, we should also acknowledge that the present crisis is being replicated throughout the entire world. We are not the only country to be suffering from the effects already outlined by Senators. If we look to our neighbours in the European Union and the United States, we can see that many countries are struggling in the same way as we are. To overcome our present circumstances, it is vital we continue to pursue appropriate policies to position Ireland and its economy to benefit from the global recovery when it eventually emerges.

One of the key competitive advantages we retain and should talk up is the skills and education level of our labour force which continues to be highly skilled and flexible. As a Government, we continue to invest in education and training at all levels to ensure we have the skills demanded by our increasingly knowledge intensive and flexible world economy.

The decisions taken by the Government in the supplementary budget are evidence of our continued commitment to supporting businesses and maintaining and creating a pro-business environment. The establishment of the enterprise stabilisation fund, which will provide €100 million to support viable but vulnerable firms over this particularly difficult economic period, is one of the central planks of that policy. Leaving our relatively low tax rates on businesses unchanged and continuing to adopt policies that enable companies to develop in these difficult circumstances are the remaining planks. I shall outline others later.

The Government has repeatedly proven itself capable of taking the necessary steps to safeguard our economy. We will continue to act in the national interest and take decisive action to secure our future prosperity, as we did in the budget and the supplementary budget.

While we retain many areas of competitive advantage, I acknowledge that the global economic downturn has significant implications for our economy. This is most evident from the sharp rise in unemployment. The figures published today show that the numbers on the live register are continuing to increase, with 418,600 persons on the register. As a public representative, I am aware that people, families and personal stories are being affected. On examination, however, 16,500 people left the live register in May because they found work. In the past 12 months, almost 145,000 people left it for this reason. While we are aware of the negative impacts of unemployment, it is important that we reflect on these figures to show that jobs are still being created in the economy. The spectre of unemployment, as Senator Boyle mentioned, and the human story are the reasons the Government is determined to do everything in its power to enable those who find themselves unemployed to re-enter employment as soon as possible by providing them with the necessary supports to overcome their present difficulties.

Given the increasing numbers of people on the register, the Ministers for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Education and Science and Social and Family Affairs are working closely to ensure that appropriate and shared responses are developed and activated. This has led to the introduction of several new initiatives, including the development of the part-time third level education programme for the unemployed mentioned by Senator Boyle. Under this programme, 2,500 places will be available. Another example of a new cross-departmental programme is the work placement programme under FÁS, to which I will refer later.

The Government has invested substantial resources in addressing the unemployment problem. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment alone is investing €1 billion in the provision of a range of labour force measures that will provide training and work experience opportunities to assist those who have lost their jobs. This has allowed our Department almost to double the provision of job search, training and work experience activation places available to the unemployed. In particular, the Department and FÁS have put in place measures to double the capacity to cater for the rise in live register referrals from the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The implementation of these measures has increased the annual referral capacity to 147,000 persons this year. These measures and others represent a significant step in meeting the considerable challenge of supporting the unemployed.

In a difficult climate such as that which we face, the importance of training and education is vital for everyone. The impact such opportunities can have for those who are out of work and are seeking to rejoin the labour market cannot be overstated. To assist individuals through the provision of education and training opportunities, our Department has almost doubled the number of activation training and work experience places provided by FÁS to 128,000 this year. This represents a substantial increase on the 66,000 places available at the end of 2008.

In the supplementary budget, the Government announced its intention to establish a programme that will provide valuable work experience to individuals who are unemployed and who have had limited experience to date. The Tánaiste and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin, jointly launched the work placement programme. It will provide 2,000 individuals who have been unemployed with a six-month work experience placement. Two streams each consist of 1,000 places. The first stream is for graduates who before this year have attained a full award at level seven or above on the National Framework of Qualifications and who have been receiving jobseeker's allowance for the past six months. The second stream is open to all other individuals who have been receiving jobseeker's allowance for the past six months. Under this stream, 250 places are being ring-fenced for those under 25 years of age.

As a result of the co-operation and dialogue between the two Departments, the scheme has been innovatively designed to allow participants on both streams to continue to receive their existing social welfare entitlements for their duration on the programme. FÁS is administering the programme and is now taking applications from providers and individuals who may be interested in participating.

Another cohort of the unemployed who require specific support are redundant apprentices. I am fully aware of the difficult situation in which they find themselves. Without placements, they would not previously have been able to complete their apprenticeships. Our Department has introduced a number of specific initiatives to assist up to 3,600 redundant apprentices to complete their studies. For example, 2,000 apprentices who have been made redundant can progress to the next off-the-job training phase in the education sector without completing their placements. FÁS has introduced an employer-based redundant apprentice rotation scheme to provide support for employers to provide on-the-job training to 500 redundant apprentices. ESB Networks has agreed a programme with FÁS to provide on-the-job training to 400 eligible redundant electrical apprentices at phases five and seven. The institutes of technology are also providing an 11-week certified training programme for up to 700 redundant apprentices who have completed their phase four training but where another training opportunity is not currently available to them.

Support for jobs and those who have lost their jobs must be at the centre of our collective effort. For this reason, we need to be imaginative and break new ground in intervening to sustain jobs. Last week, the Government presented proposals to the social partners that focused on measures to prevent job losses. These included the introduction of a temporary employment subsidy scheme, which aims to help employees retain their jobs and employers to maintain their skilled workforces. It is proposed that the scheme will be for manufacturing or internationally traded service companies that were not in difficulty on 1 July 2008. In addition, companies that are to receive the temporary employment subsidy must be judged to be viable entities and capable of growth in the global upturn. It is proposed that €250 million will be allocated towards this scheme, which should provide support for up to 30,000 employees who would be in danger of losing their jobs without this intervention.

The Government intends to engage further with the social partners to develop other innovative approaches to maintaining employment, creating new employment and early and active engagement with those out of work, including any lessons arising from implementation of this and the other schemes on which I have given details. We will continue to explore the possibility of further expanding the range of programmes that are currently available, including those that have existed for a number of years but that I have not mentioned, to ensure we are able to meet the needs of the increasing number of people who are unemployed. As an economy and a nation, we are in an unprecedented time. Overcoming our difficult economic problems will require all Members of the House and everyone in society to make a positive contribution so we can determine how best to assist our economic recovery bid in getting those who are on the live register back to work.

I regret that Senator Twomey has left the Chamber. Senator Cannon proposed ideas, but Senator Twomey's personal attack on Senator Boyle was not the kind of response that will assist anyone in getting a new job. The Government will make the necessary difficult decisions over the next few weeks and months and will provide the leadership and example that is necessary to place us firmly on the path to recovery. During recent campaigns, the other side of the Chamber politically exploited our tough decisions to date. Nevertheless, we will continue to take those decisions in the best interests of the country and the people.