THE Cabinet may today clear up some of the confusion caused by overlapping proposals on job creation schemes for the 100,000 long-term unemployed.

The final set of proposals will not be agreed by the Coalition until nearer Budget Day on January 23rd, but the Government must now co-ordinate the stream of proposals coming from at least five Government departments.

The Fianna Fail deputy leader and spokesperson on Enterprise and Employment, Ms Mary O'Rourke, yesterday accused the Government of lacking "any coherent plan" to tackle unemployment.

She said this Government had at least eight different Ministers and Ministers of State with responsibility for employment measures.

Proposals for tackling the long-term unemployed crisis are coming from a task force report of the National Economic and Social Forum under the Tanaiste, Mr Spring; a report of an inter-departmental task force set up last October; a report of the Department of Enterprise and Employment under the Minister, Mr Richard Bruton; and proposals from the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa.

As many of these proposals involve tax adjustments, the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, is also directly involved.

The aim of the proposals is to reintegrate the long-term unemployed back into the labour force through incentives such as tax breaks, subsidies to employers, retention of some unemployed welfare benefits, trial job schemes etc.

The Progressive Democrats spokesman on finance, Mr Michael McDowell, has criticised the suggestion for a minimum wage put forward in an interview by the Minister for Social Welfare.

Mr McDowell said that in the light of the increasing unemployment figures, such a suggestion would "introduce yet another obstacle to people participating in the labour market and the real economy of the country". Instead of making work more expensive, the Government should be making employment more competitive.