Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 122: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has initiated national job protection schemes; her plans to implement such strategy in view of the continuing rise in unemployment levels; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7750/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is determined to do all in its power to tackle the rise in numbers of people finding themselves without work or with reduced working weeks. Our approach in tackling the issue is multi-faceted and centres on restoring our public finances, protecting employment across the economy, re-training those without work and attracting new investment and jobs to our shores.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs fund a number of Schemes which provide a subsidy to a person's wage. These include employment supports available to persons in receipt of welfare payments that are designed to assist and facilitate people on social welfare payments to return to the active labour force. Included in these measures is the Back to Work Allowance (BTWA). The BTWA scheme is designed to assist the long-term unemployed, lone parents, people with disabilities and other social welfare recipients to return to work. There are two strands to the scheme, the Back to Work Enterprise allowance for the self-employed and the Back to Work Allowance for employees. These allowances provide a monetary incentive for people who are dependant long-term on social welfare payments to make the return to work financially attractive and viable.

Financial support is also available to those who are engaged in short-time employment through the payment of Jobseeker's Benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance in respect of those days that the person is unemployed. In addition to that outlined above, my Department, through FÁS, funds and operates a Wage Subsidy Scheme that provides financial incentives to employers, outside the public sector, to employ disabled people who work more than 20 hours per week.

Finally, I can say that my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, has asked the Commission for Energy Regulation for an immediate review of energy pricing and an analysis of options for bringing down electricity and gas prices for householders and businesses. Such action sends out a clear signal that in Government we are addressing issues of real concern to employers who need to get costs down in order to compete effectively in the global marketplace, resulting in more jobs being protected across our economy. It is one example of the many steps that we are in the process of taking to best protect the long term sustainability of our economy.