Funding for schools, energy; cuts to VAT, PRSI - jobs plan [Independent.ie]
- Published: 10 May 2011
Cuts in VAT and PRSI rates, a €30m fund for school-building projects, the abolition of air tax, an expanded energy retrofitting plan and a reversal in the minimum wage are expected to be announced as part of the jobs initiative this afternoon.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan will also announce training and internship programmes aimed at the long term unemployed who number about half of the 440,000 on the Live Register. He is expected to take to his feet in the Dail at 5pm.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has already announced details of a finders’ fee scheme that offers members of the Irish diaspora €3,000 if they create a new job that lasts at least two years.
However, entrepreneur Jerry Kenelly, founder of tweak.com said today that that the plan was ‘bonkers’ and said that people like himself and members of the diaspora are doing this anyway, not for a €3,000 incentive.
“Moves that are needed are a lot simpler. There are lots of jobs and no efficient market place to find talent. A national jobs register is not an expensive thing to set up and gives an opportunity for people to make themselves available for internships,” he said.
Mr Kenelly added that there is currently a disconnect between the education system and what is available. “In reality there is a global shortage of talent, particularly in technology,” he said.
Today's jobs package will be paid for through a €500m tax on pension funds, which will be counterbalanced by tax relief on contributions to private pension funds.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Funding confirmed for school improvements [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 09 May 2011
The government has confirmed a package of 30 million euros worth of funding that will be used to improve hundreds of schools.
Works to get under way later this year that were confirmed by a spokeswoman for Education Minister Ruairi Quinn will include "shovel-ready" refurbishments to at least 380 primary and secondary schools, the Irish Times reports.
This will be in addition to a range of gas, electrical and mechanical upgrades to 435 primary and post-primary schools that were announced by the department in March.
According to the spokeswoman, the projects, which she described as "labour-intensive", are "costed and ready to go" and will be a vital part of improving the country's schools infrastructure.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
End is in sight for roll calls as schools face the future [Independent.ie]
- Published: 09 May 2011
AN Irish software firm has brought the traditional school attendance register into the computer age.
Two schools have already adopted the latest face-recognition technology to monitor attendance and timekeeping among thousands of pupils, and other schools are planning to introduce the system from September.
Students simply look at a device when they arrive at school and, within seconds, they are scanned, identified and their attendance is registered.
It saves hours of teachers' time recording attendance and 'lates', and provides an at-a-glance record of who's in and who's out.
It also makes it easy to track poor attendance or lateness patterns, which would allow for early intervention to nip a problem in the bud.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
A hard battle to create jobs [sbpost.ie]
- Published: 08 May 2011
Government ministers’ recent statements are an exercise in toning down impressions that the jobs initiative could prove a silver bullet for a besieged economy
First it was a jobs budget, then it was downgraded to an ‘initiative’. Last week the government took one further step to temper public expectation of its package of job creation measures.
Having run a general election campaign that talked up a stimulus to kick-start recovery, Fine Gael was engaged in a process of toning down impressions that it could prove a silver bullet for a besieged economy.
Repeating the caveat that the stimulus would be ‘‘fiscally neutral’’, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil that it would not sort out Ireland’s unemployment problems overnight.
‘‘I would love to be in a position to reel out to the nation the benefit of what could be spent of the €3 billion. . . to the banks for each of the next ten years, he said, ‘‘but that is the situation we are in."
Full Story: www.sbpost.ie
Communion costs forces one-in-8 to loan sharks [Herald.ie]
- Published: 06 May 2011
FIRST Communion children are making up to €500 for their special day while one in eight families has to turn to a moneylender to fund the occasion.
A new study by the Irish League of Credit Unions has also found that one in five families is using a credit card to cover some of the expense associated with the day.
First Communion children get an average of €471 from friends and family while the figure is €455 for Confirmation.
These amounts have remained unchanged despite the recession.
Clothes are the biggest cost, according to two thirds of parents preparing children for First Communion while in the case of Confirmation, food and drink is the most expensive item.
Confirmation is less expensive all round with only one in 25 families turning to a moneylender to help them fund that day.
Full Story: www.herald.ie
