OVER 220 companies had applied to benefit from the Government’s €250 million employment subsidy scheme by yesterday, according to Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan.

Commenting on yesterday’s live register figures, which showed unemployment hit 12.4 per cent in August but that the rate of growth in joblessness was down, the Minister acknowledged that the Government “still has a hill to climb” in terms of tackling the problem.

The Minister added that her officials had told her that 229 companies had applied for help from the employment subsidy scheme launched last month, and pointed out that the closing date for applications was Friday, so there could be more to come.

Under the scheme the Government has pledged to make €250 million available to support jobs in businesses involved in manufacturing and/or internationally-traded services.

The scheme will provide temporary support of €9,100 for each worker in qualifying businesses over a 15-month period.

The payment rate begins at €200 a month for the first 26 weeks, but falls to €50 by the scheme’s end.

Ms Coughlan said she did not know how many people were working for the companies which have applied to date. All those details would have to be explored as the applications were considered.

The Tánaiste was speaking at the launch of Dublin Aerospace, which is taking over parts of the operations of SR Technics, the aircraft maintenance business which began pulling out of the Republic last spring.

She welcomed the fact that the live register figures showed a slowdown in the rate of unemployment growth.