Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 48: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will categorise the 2,600 companies who made an application under the second round of the employment subsidy scheme in respect of small, medium and large enterprises; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11127/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Last year the Government introduced the Employment Subsidy Scheme (Temporary), in the context of rising unemployment to help employees retain their jobs while at the same time assisting employers in retaining their productive capacity. The objective of the scheme is to provide an employment subsidy of up to €9,100 per employee, to vulnerable but viable enterprises, so that they maintain their workforce. Enterprises receive this subsidy on condition that they retain an agreed number of jobs. Enterprise Ireland manages the scheme on behalf of my Department. Between this year and 2009 the Government are investing €135 million in the Employment Subsidy Scheme and it is expected that as a result approximately 80,000 jobs will be either directly or indirectly supported.

I launched the Employment Subsidy Scheme (Temporary) second call in December 2009. The second call was open to both exporting and non-exporting enterprises from all sectors of the economy provided that they employ at least 10 full time employees. 2,590 companies applied for the second call of the Employment Subsidy Scheme (Temporary). These applications are currently being assessed by Enterprise Ireland and applicants will be informed whether they were successful or not by the end of this month. On the application form, the applicant was requested to submit details of their full and part time employment as of the 2nd November 2009. Companies were not asked if they were an SME or Large company as per the EU definition. Under the EU definition of an SME, one requires more information than the employee numbers to define if the status is small, medium or large. For example, there are limits in terms of an enterprises turnover and balance sheet total, which also need to be considered.

Therefore, it is not possible to provide information on the breakdown of applicant by SME / Large Company status. A breakdown of applicants by employee numbers is not yet available, but it is expected to be available before the end of this month.