Coughlan panicked into rushing out ineffective job subsidy scheme

The jobs plan rushed out today (Thursday) by Tánaiste Mary Coughlan is ineffective, expensive and riddled with holes, according to Fine Gael Innovation Spokeswoman Deirdre Clune TD, who urged the Government to adopt Fine Gael’s far-reaching job creation proposals.

The unemployment crisis goes right across the economy, with every sector affected. But the Tánaiste’s new scheme will have a limited impact on just one sector. I believe it’s a deadweight proposal from a lightweight Tánaiste:

Companies which receive this subsidy could still choose to make staff redundant;
The scheme raises legal and ethical questions. For example, a poorly performing company may qualify for the scheme, while a company which has weathered the recession but still needs assistance may not qualify at all;
The scheme does nothing to tackle business costs and competitiveness, still one of the biggest threats to employment. Lowering business costs would benefit all employers, and help successful firms to thrive;
It will be almost impossible to know whether the scheme is working.

The Government would do far better to adopt Fine Gael’s far-reaching policies, including a PRSI waiver for new employees taken on over the next two years. Fine Gael is also proposing an €11 billion stimulus plan for energy, broadband and water, and reductions in spending to allow cuts in VAT.

Fine Gael has published an 18 point SME package to protect jobs across all sectors of the economy. These include the abolition of the Travel Tax, the creation of a National Recovery Bank to restore credit lines to small business and homebuyers, and a plan to reduce Government-imposed costs on small business.