Tánaiste announces Broader Second Call to the Employment Subsidy Scheme

- First round approvals to the value of almost €68 million to issue this week -

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D., today (Tuesday 10 November 2009) announced that to date 7,478 jobs are to receive direct support under the first round of the Employment Subsidy Scheme. This week 453 employers are to be informed of their successful application under the scheme, which provides a subsidy of €9,100 over fifteen months per qualifying employee in vulnerable but viable firms.

As a result of this scheme, companies have now committed, as part of their application, to retaining 35,283 jobs. A further number of applications are in the final stages of assessment, which will be completed in the near future.

Applicant enterprises qualifying under the scheme were those judged vulnerable in the current economic climate but viable in the medium to long term, with such analysis being co-ordinated by Enterprise Ireland. The scheme was introduced, in the context of rising unemployment, to assist in the retention of jobs and to help retain the economy’s skills base.

Making the announcement the Tánaiste said, “The Employment Subsidy Scheme is designed to support the maintenance of vulnerable jobs and prevent people from being made redundant. Each of the companies who will receive support under the Employment Subsidy Scheme have committed to retaining an agreed level of employees until December 2010. In this difficult economic environment the Employment Subsidy Scheme is enabling the State to protect vulnerable employment, which may otherwise have been lost without this subsidy.”

The Tánaiste said that she was surprised that applications under the Employment Subsidy Scheme had been less than anticipated and she confirmed that, as a result, she now intended to proceed with a second round with broader criteria.

“Details of a second broader call for applications with extended eligibility criteria open to both exporting and non-exporting firms will be announced shortly. This Second Call takes into account some of the issues raised by businesses and representative bodies concerning the original call. The Second Call will therefore be open to many companies that were not eligible to apply for the First Call. This Second Call will be limited to value of the First Call and will once again be managed by Enterprise Ireland. Details of the Second Call will be announced shortly and made available on the dedicated website www.employmentsubsidy.ie.”