Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 29 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - Community Enterprise Development Programme.

Miss Quill

I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for selecting this matter for discussion and I thank the Minister for coming in to respond to my case. Most right-thinking people and myself welcomed the additional amount of money made available in the last budget for community employment schemes. We were pleased that additional places were to be created to enable a larger number of people to find work in these schemes. That proposal held out great hope for many people, particularly those in the long term unemployed category. The case I make this evening is on behalf of people who are precluded from working on such schemes, specifically married women who, by virtue of the fact that they are not signing on, are debarred from participation in the schemes. I ask that the live register requirements be changed to enable women currently not signing on to be eligible for inclusion in the recently announced CEDP schemes.

A large number of married women stopped signing on when equality legislation was introduced in 1985. At that time they saw no good reason for continuing to sign on because they did not anticipate that any benefit would follow. In the meantime, a number of developments in the training-work area have opened up fresh opportunities. The part-time nature of this work is particularly suited to women working in the home who want to combine work outside the home with the carrying on of their family duties. The extension of the work carried out from what was previously mainly heavy, outside work to work of a clerical, administrative, caring or organisational nature makes the new schemes much more suitable to women.

Ironically, much of the work previously done by women in the community on a non-payment, voluntary basis is, under the CEDP scheme, being offered to men for a wage. This is a clear case of inequality and it should be remedied. I welcome the recent changes brought about by the Minister and his Department for lone parents. They represent a marked improvement on the previous system. However, it makes no sense that many married women who have completed back to work courses are precluded from taking on the work on offer under these schemes.

In The Irish Press today the Minister said that an additional 1,000 people will benefit from the back to work schemes announced by his Department last October. The next logical step is to ensure that married women not signing on and hitherto working in the home will be enabled to find work under the CEDP schemes. I know hundreds of women with small family budgets who are trying to make ends meet and these women would greatly benefit if they were allowed work under those schemes. The extra money would certainly remove many families from the poverty trap. I appeal to the Minister to change the position in this regard.

Minister for Social Welfare (Dr. Woods)

The matter raised by Deputy Quill is one with which I have considerable sympathy. The Community Employment Development Programme was one of a number of special measures introduced in the pilot partnership areas chosen for the area based response to long term unemployment introduced under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress and now formalised in the local development programme. Basically the CEDP involved incorporating a training element into a series of carefully screened social employment type schemes in each of the 12 areas. The CEDP was widely welcomed as a marked improvement and advancement on the SES both because of the training element and also the inclusion of lone parents among those eligible to participate in the scheme.

The CEDP was implemented by FÁS. A new FÁS programme, community employment, was announced in this year's budget. This will replace the Community Employment Development Programme, the social employment scheme and Teamwork and essentially builds on the experience and strengths of these programmes, most notably that of the CEDP. The following are eligible to participate: persons 21 years or over in receipt of unemployment assistance; all persons in receipt of unemployment benefit for over one year; all persons in receipt of the lone parent's allowance for over one year; and other special categories for example, referrals by the NRB and persons combining a period on the live register with a period on a recognised programme.

Provision for people under 21 years and for Youthreach progression participants will be examined later this year following review of the FÁS-Department of Social Welfare options initiative for school leavers. Priority in recruitment will be given to the older and longer term unemployed and other groups targeted in area action plans in the designated areas under the local development programme. As a target, 25 per cent of all places will be set aside for the very long term unemployed, that is those over 45 who have been unemployed for three years or more. In the case of older participants who have been unemployed for more than three years, efforts will be made to provide places for up to three years. Community employment will be a key resource in the 33 designated areas targeted for inclusion in the local development programme.

As I have said, one of the very positive developments is the inclusion of lone parents, who are mostly women, as an eligible category for community employment. The point raised by the Deputy will be kept under review bearing in mind the objectives of the programme. Given the particular relevance of the Community Employment Programme to the local development programme, and the fact that experience in the partnership areas was so influential, the inter-departmental policy committee on local development also has a particular interest in these matters.

The report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women included recommendations relating to women re-entering the labour market including live register eligibility. The Minister for Equality and Law Reform has established a special committee to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the second commission. The issues therefore, will be given full consideration.

I have sympathy with the point made by the Deputy. Priority has been given to people on the lowest incomes who are long term unemployed. The scheme was recently extended to include lone parents and there are cases where women in the home who do not have a qualification may become involved. That is an issue which remains to be addressed and it will be kept in mind in the reviews of the scheme.