THE Government has spent only, £4 million of £6 million allocated to establish a Local Employment Service (LES), and £200,000 out of £1 million made available in the budget for Jobstart. Both schemes are designed for the long term unemployed.
The Fianna Fail spokeswoman on enterprise and employment, Ms Mary O'Rourke, said last night the Government "should hang its head in shame at its appalling inability to tackle the issue of long term unemployment. If Labour and Democratic Left are really as concerned about long term unemployment as they claim to be, they should immediately seek to have the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton moved."
The LES was a recommendation of the Task Force on Long Term Unemployment. It is being developed initially on a pilot basis and a spokesman for the Department said this phase has still to be completed.
On Jobstart, the take up has been much lower than anticipated. Under the scheme employers can claim a subsidy of £80 a week if they recruit someone who has been on the Live Register for at least three years.
Only 600 people have so far been approved for recruitment, a fraction of the 5,000 target. However it is understood that many employers seeking details of the scheme from FAS lost interest when told they would need to produce tax clearance certificates.
Mr Bruton rejected a claim by Ms O'Rourke that the number of long term unemployed had increased by 3,500 since he came into office. He said the number had actually fallen by 25,000.