The Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, has said he is putting €63m - over and above funds already allocated through the jobs initiative - into disadvantaged areas with high structural unemployment to help with education and training.
The Minister also said he is trying to secure further funding through the European Union for rural development and RAPID programmes.
Addressing a conference on unemployment at Dublin Castle, he praised local development programmes operated through the community and voluntary sector around the country.
Asked whether he believed the Troika could be persuaded to permit the proceeds of selling state assets to be used for job creation rather than paying down debt, he said the Minister for Finance was interfacing with the Troika and he expected they would make progress on that issue.
Meanwhile, an employment expert has called for the introduction of a job creation "tax credit" to build new jobs.
Dr Randall Eberts, who is president of the US-based Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, told today's conference that the tax credit would refund a portion of wage costs for new employees.
He recommended a job creation tax credit which would refund 15% of taxable payroll in year one, and 10% in year two.
Dr Eberts said this method had created hundreds of thousands of new jobs in America during the 1970s recession. He said the tax credit initiative was cheaper and more targeted than a general stimulus package, which he described as a blunt instrument.
