FF: no jobs, no plan & no hope

Never in the history of the State have so many people been out of work, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD said today as the live register climbed by 13,300 in the last month.

“At the end of last year the Government was trumpeting a slowdown in the number of people joining the live register. Fianna Fáil has successfully thrown this into reverse, with the live register accelerating dramatically back to five figure job losses per month. The increase of 13,341 in the month is a dead cat bounce for unemployment levels. Without the pressure valves of emigration and further education, the live register would now stand at half a million.

“Every job loss is a tragedy for the individual and their family. And this is a tragedy which Brian Cowen has personally presided over. There were 202,000 on the live register when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach. This has more than doubled to almost 437,000 under his tenure.

“The thousands of people losing their jobs and livelihoods won’t take any comfort from Government delusions that the worst is over, particularly when tax revenues continue to plummet and redundancies are soaring.
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Speaking in the Dáil today (Tuesday) during Enterprise questions, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar re-iterated Fine Gael’s call for the introduction of a Government-backed loan guarantee for small & medium enterprises.

“Credit is the lifeblood of the economy but small & medium enterprises are being starved of credit by the banks. There are over 200,000 small and medium firms in the country supporting nearly a million jobs.

“There is some new lending but working capital such as overdrafts are being restricted and the banks are increasingly looking for personal guarantees from owner-directors. The reason is simple: the banks are bust and need to rebuild their balance sheets. As a result, they are unwilling to lend money to small businesses which are regarded as relatively high risk in a recessionary environment.
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Daft wage system needs reform

Minister Calleary’s reforms are a recipe for fudge

‘Daft’ laws which see hair stylists being paid 6c an hour more than barbers, which fix wage rates for hotel staff in Co. Dublin but not in the city centre, and which limit pay rates for beef butchers but not fishmongers, are being left intact as part of the Government’s much-hyped tinkering with minimum pay and condition orders, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has warned.

Deputy Varadkar was speaking today in a Dáil debate on the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill.

“Junior Minister Dara Calleary has flunked the challenge to reform the Labour Court’s outdated and cumbersome wage-setting system. This system sets minimum rates, terms, conditions and benefits in the hospitality, grocery, agricultural and security sectors (among others). But it is currently a recipe for chaos. The whole system is outmoded, unrepresentative, cumbersome and restrictive.

“It is costing us jobs in hotels, restaurants and the retail sector. It penalises honest employers and often prevents employees from working when they are willing to do so. You could not make up some of the rulings, which are just plain daft:

• The Hotel Employment Regulation Order applies to Co. Dublin but not to Dublin City, to Co. Cork and Co. Kerry but not in Cork city;

• One set of rules applies to hair salons in Cork, with another for Dublin, Dun Laoghaire and Bray. But there are no rules at all for the rest of the country;

• The Retail Employment Regulation Order applies to any shop that sells food items, but not to those that sell only bread, cakes, buns or beef, unless the beef is pressed. It applies to tobacconists but not off-licences;

• The Catering Order applies to pubs in some parts of the country but not others and only to those that sell food as well alcohol;

• Tailors, dressmakers and shirtmakers have different rates of pay;

• The minimum rate for cutting a man’s hair is 6c an hour less than for cutting a woman’s hair, but a unisex hairdresser gets the male rate for all customers.

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Live Register figures for 2009 show 36% Increase. 141% Increase over past 2 years.

The latest live register figures (January 12th 2010) show that during the course of 2009, the number of people signing on at the Blanchardstown Social Welfare Office for the dole increased by 2,182 or 36% to 8,280.

Speaking on the matter, local Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar said “The figures for 2009 are particularly stark, as they represent the second year in a row of massive growth of unemployment in Dublin 15. In just two years, the numbers signing on at the Blanchardstown Social Welfare Office have jumped by a massive 141% from 3,436 in December 2007. This is a phenomenal increase, and would be much more but for the fact that hundreds upon hundreds of people have emigrated from these shores in 2009.” …[more]

With the unemployment rate reaching a 14 year high and the live register at its highest ever level, Ireland is a long way from turning the corner, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has warned today (Friday).

The latest CSO figures show the numbers signing on rose by 10,090 (unadjusted) and 3,300 (seasonally adjusted) last month. There are now 426,700 people signing on the live register, the highest number in Irish history. The Standardised Unemployment Rate of 12.5% is at a 14 year high and is the second highest in the Eurozone.

“We haven’t turned the corner and won’t do so until unemployment starts falling. The Government has become obsessed with balancing the books and the banks, and has done nothing about the collapse of the real economy and the on-going hemorrhage of jobs.

“The Government should immediately introduce a Job Creation and Job Retention package on the lines proposed by Fine Gael. This should include:

 

• An across-the-board cut in the Jobs Tax (employers’ PRSI) to stimulate job creation;

 

• An aggressive programme to reduce the high cost of doing business and restore competitiveness;

 

• The provision of 30,000 education and training places for the young unemployed through a National Internship Programme and second-chance education;

 

• Introducing a Workshare scheme in industry to enable employers to keep more people in employment on a part-time basis;

 

• Adopting Fine Gael’s NewERA plan to invest €18 billion in infrastructure by re-tooling the semi-States and making them engines for growth.”

 

Over 11,000 residents of Dublin 15 face a cut in their weekly social welfare benefits next week as the cuts announced in the budget take effect. All recipients of social welfare payments under the age of 66 face a cut of more than €8 per week in their benefits from the beginning of the year. These include 11,581 recipients of the jobseekers benefit, jobseekers allowance, the one-parent family payment, carer’s allowance, illness benefit as well as recipients of the widow’s pension, maternity benefit and blind persons pension. In addition to these, the parents of the 24,000 children in Dublin 15 will have their Child Benefit cut by €16 per month. In total, €7.4 million will taken out of the pockets of Dublin 15 residents and the local economy in 2010.

‘I accept that €4 billion had to be cut from government spending in the budget. The government’s attempt to raise more money through higher income taxes, VAT and excise in the previous budget turned out to be counter-productive. However there were choices as to how the €4 billion in savings could be achieved. The government made the wrong choices. They could have implemented the Bord Snip recommendations on the rationalisation of state agencies, quangos and cuts to administrative spending. This would have saved €750 million. If they had done this, the cuts to child benefit, carers allowance, the blind persons pension and the illness and disability benefits could have been avoided’, said Deputy Varadkar

‘Over the past ten years, Fianna Fail used the temporary windfall in taxes from the construction industry and banking to fund increases in pay, pensions and benefits. Last year, these industries collapsed and the tax take collapsed with them. Since then, the government has already borrowed €30 billion to replace these lost taxes and to keep the money flowing. The pay and welfare increases that occurred during the Bertie years were never sustainable. Indeed, Fine Gael spent most of the last five years warning the government and public that it would all end in tears. Tax increases and spending cuts will be necessary over the next few years but there are still choices to be made. The government should target wasteful spending and administrative costs before touching benefits or increasing taxes.’

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51,000 young people joined dole queues in last two years

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has revealed Ireland’s ten worst youth unemployment blackspots* after the CSO published new data showing that 51,000 people under the age of 25 joined the live register in the last two years.

“Budget 2010 must be about more than just balancing the books: it must be about jobs. Unemployment among under-25 year olds has shot up by 158% over the last two years. In these desperate times the Government has a responsibility to get people back to work, to implement a fair Budget, and to provide some hope that things will get better.

“But the torrent of leaked proposals from the Government have sparked nothing but fear, and talk of a job-creation package has long been abandoned. I recently published a Youth Jobs Plan, part of Fine Gael’s alternative Budget. This would reduce the number of under-25s on the live register by a third in the next 12 months. Our proposals for Hope for a Lost Generation would provide new jobs for more than 30,000 people, mainly under the age of 25.

“The Fine Gael Budget Perspective contains €245 million worth of labour market interventions to create 13,000 graduate internship placements, 10,000 second chance education scheme placements, 5,000 extra community employment places, and 10,000 jobs retained through a Government-backed workshare scheme.”

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Fine Gael proposes detailed and costed proposals to reduce numbers of young people signing on by 1/3

According to CSO figures released today (Tuesday, 8th December) the number of young people signing on the Live Register in Dublin 15 has increased by 135% over the past two years. In November 2007, 666 people under 25 were signing on at the Blanchardstown Social Welfare Office. In just two years, this had risen to 1,567.

According to local Fine Gael TD, Leo Varadkar, “these figures show in graphic terms the real cost of the failed economic policies of Minister Brian Lenihan and the Fianna Fáil/Green government. Youth unemployment is particularly worrisome, as it can lead to long-term unemployment, poor health and crime.”

“That is why last week, in my role as Fine Gael Spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I launched a detailed and costed policy document outlining how Fine Gael would tackle this crisis. This policy document aimed to reduce the number of young people signing on by 1/3 or 30,000 people – in the context of Dublin 15, this would see the number signing on reduced by more than 500.”

“The manner in which we would do this is through a variety of targeted measures aimed at supporting existing jobs, and through expanded training, and internship programmes. In total, we are looking at creating 38,000 opportunities for young people with 13,000 graduate internship placements, 10,000 second chance education scheme placements, 5,000 extra CES places and 10,000 jobs retained through a Government supported workshare scheme.”

FG Plan to reduce youth dole by a third

A set of Fine Gael proposals targeting youth unemployment will reduce by 1/3rd the numbers of under 25s on the Live Register in 2010, according to Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny TD. He was speaking at the launch of “Hope for a Lost Generation”, a document prepared by Fine Gael’s Enterprise Spokesman, Leo Varadkar T.D. The 30,000 under 25s that will be taken off the Live Register will be made up of a combination of workshare jobs created, national internship programmes, second chance education schemes and an expanded community employment scheme.

Commenting on the document the Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny, said:

“Fine Gael has a fundamentally different approach to Fianna Fail when it comes to the Budget and tackling this economic depression. We see the Budget as an opportunity to deliver pro jobs, pro enterprise policies so that we can get our country back to work. That is why Fine Gael has shown how, through our NewERA plan, we can deliver an €18bn stimulus plan over four years that will get 105,000 people back to work. In contrast Fianna Fail wants to cut our Capital budget by €1bn. We have also shown how we can deliver a targeted PRSI tax cut to employers and create 30,000. Fianna Fail has crippled Irish business with extras taxes and charges.

“Despite this obvious challenge the Government have failed to set a clear and deliberate jobs strategy to arrest and then reverse the tide of increasing unemployment in our country. They have been focused too much on balancing the books and engaging in endless dialogue with union leaders. In the meantime our dole queues grow ever longer. Today’s proposals, targeting a lost generation in this crisis, is the latest contribution by Fine Gael to a coherent and thought out jobs strategy to cut our dole queues while fixing our budget.”

Commenting on the report its author, Leo Varadkar said:

“Today’s set of proposals involves targeted interventions in the Labour market that will take more than 30,000 people off the Live Register. The proposals in this document are deliberately targeted at those unemployed people under the age of 25. There is a real risk that we will have a permanently lost generation if something proactive is not done to stem this loss of talent and ability from our economy.

“That is why we have allowed for a net €245m worth of Labour Market interventions in our budget perspective which will be published on Friday. This money will be used to create: 13,000 graduate internship placements, 10,000 second chance education scheme placements, 5,000 extra CES places and 10,000 jobs retained through a Government supported workshare scheme.

“We conservatively estimate that over 30,000 of these 38,000 or so places will be filled by people on the Live Register. In this way we are confident that more than 1/3rd of the 87,100 under 25s on the Live Register can come off that list in 2010. This is the type of intervention, targeted and specific to our needs, that is required to get us out of this economic mess. This is the type of intervention that is sadly missing from this Government.”

The Fine Gael plan for youth employment can be accessed here.