asked the Minister for Labour (a) the amount of money spent to date in 1983 on the Employment Incentive Scheme, 1983, and (b) the projected number of persons who will be assisted by the scheme in 1983 in (i) manufacturing industry and (ii) agriculture.

: The Employment Incentive Scheme, 1983, came into operation on 14 January 1983. Expenditure relating to the scheme to date is negligible. This arises because payments are submitted for four week periods and for the 1983 scheme the first such period would have ended on 29 January 1983. There is a period of grace of 60 days for employers to submit their claims; and there is a time lag in processing claims and payments in the Department.

The projected number of persons likely to be recruited under the scheme in 1983 is put at 3,360, of whom it is estimated (i) 3,120 will be in manufacturing industry and (ii) 240 in agriculture.

: Has the Minister any information to give the House on the numbers to date who have been assisted by this scheme?

: Does the Deputy mean since the inception of the scheme?

: Since January. The question refers to 1983.

: The Deputy's question relates to the amount of money spent to date in 1983 on the Employment Incentive Scheme, 1983. The first operative period runs from 3 January 1983 to 29 January 1983, and the closing date for receipt of applications is 30 March 1983. Those statistics would not be available yet. There is always a time lag after applications are received.

: Surely the Minister must have some indication of the type of response in that period. I am not asking about the money but the numbers within the 3,000 odd to whom he referred. What is his estimate of the number who will be assisted by that scheme in the first period of this year?

: As I indicated, it is expected that 3,360 people will participate in the full year. At this stage applications have not yet been processed for the first part of the year for the reasons I have indicated. The first four week period has just expired and the date for receipt of applications has still some distance to run.

: What is the expiry date for the first period?

: The first period expires on 29 January.

: That is almost two months ago.

: With the 60 days grace the closing date for applications is 30 March.

: Is it so bad that the Minister is ashamed to give the figure?

: What criterion does the Minister use to decide which tabular statements to read and which not to read? He read a tabular statement in answer to Question No. 17 but refused to read the one dealing with the Youth Employment Agency.

: The reason is quite simple. Two statistics are involved in Question No. 17 and the earlier question involved approximately 30 statistics.