€50m of subsidies to prompt firms to create 5,000 new jobs

The Government will spend up to €50m subsidising employers who take the long-term unemployed off dole queues in the hope of creating up to 5,000 jobs.

The initiative will begin in June and see the State pay one in every four euro to firms for the cost of taking on jobless recruits.

The service, manufacturing, and tourism industries are expected to be the biggest users of the JobsPlus scheme, announced yesterday as part of the Government’s action plan for jobs 2013.