OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE:A VOLUNTARY jobs programme which would provide part-time employment to 100,000 long-term unemployed is "almost a no-brainer", an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

The proposal was put to members of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform by Fr Seán Healy of Social Justice Ireland.

The group proposes that the Government fund a programme which would allow the long-term unemployed to take up part-time positions. The proposal, which the group said would cost €150 million, should be modelled on the Part-Time Job Opportunities Programme, piloted in the 1990s by directors of the group.

Under the scheme volunteers would receive the equivalent of their current social welfare payment while effectively receiving the going hourly rate for the job as agreed by the relevant trade unions. They would also receive a small top-up payment.

In other words if a person were receiving €188 on social welfare and volunteered to take up a job in which the going rate is €20 an hour, that person would work 9.4 hours a week.

Fr Healy said this would also allow those participants to take up other part-time employment in their spare time without incurring a loss of benefits.

“This has the possibility of creating real part-time jobs, not low income workers because they would be paid the going hourly rate of whatever job they are going for,” Fr Healy said.

“This has huge potential to dramatically make a dent on the long-term unemployment issue,” he said, adding that this was important as there was nothing to suggest there will be long-term economic growth to improve long-term unemployment any time soon.

The group also called for refundable tax credits to be introduced to aid the working poor, which it said would directly benefit over 113,000 low income individuals, increasing their disposable income and stimulating spending.

The independent think-tank, Tasc said €2 billion could be saved every year by restructuring the promissory notes for the now defunct Anglo Irish Bank between 2012 and 2023.

The group also proposed that €1.2 billion be taken from the National Pension Reserve Fund annually for four years to invest in education, skills and training to provide for a long-term economy recovery.