Tony Gregory
Question:14 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Labour whether, arising out of his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 8 of 25 April 1991 he will outline the areas where unemployment is traditional.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment Creation.
When this question was raised previously at Question Time I referred to areas of high disadvantage and explained how the area based strategy was endeavouring to assist people. I said that priority should be given to areas which have high social deprevation and continual long term unemployment and which have not benefited from the economic boom other areas have experienced. I referred to families in areas of traditional difficulty where perhaps two or three generations of the same family have never had long term sustainable jobs. I justified the resources in the pilot area based strategy being directed towards such areas.
The Minister said in his reply that unemployment is traditional in some areas. Does he not accept that this could easily have been regarded by some communities as an offensive and insulting statement? He referred to his area where up to 80 per cent of the adult population are unemployed. Does he not accept in that context that his remarks could have been seen as offensive to people? Does he not accept that the opposite is the case and that there is a very strong tradition of manual, unskilled and semi-skilled work associated with Dublin Port and that the advent of containerisation in the port cut off that source of labour? People are crying out for work in that area; yet successive Governments have failed to provide any alternative employment source other than short term training schemes which do not produce jobs. Does the Minister not accept that no serious attempt has been made to redress the problem of massive, endemic unemployment in the disadvantaged areas in the centre of Dublin to which he referred?
If the Deputy has the Dáil Official Report in front of him, he would see that a Deputy on the other side of the House asked me if there were areas within the city which I represented which were no-go areas. I rather hotly said that that was not true and that there were no no-go areas. I referred to training centres, which have been the recipients of major resources from FÁS. I would have thought that Deputy Gregory, having been a member of such centres for many years, would have realised the difficulties in the area. I made the point that these are the areas which most need the resources from the area based strategy. Anyone who read my previous reply would know that it was not in any way offensive to anyone. As I said, these areas need most support.
I used the reference to "traditional" in my endeavours to explain that some areas have experienced a high rate of unemployment over a very long period. Deputy Gregory referred to the high level of experience and expertise among people who worked in the port area. This is the very point I was making — this work has not been sustainable and is not continuous. This is why areas such as the inner city areas of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford as well as parts of Tallaght and other parts of the country deserve special attention. That is the point I was making.
May I——
Deputy Gregory, perhaps a final and brief question.
This is only my second supplementary——
The Deputy has had a series of questions already. He has had a lot of latitude from the Chair in respect of his question on this subject.
I would expect the same latitude as is afforded to other Deputies. I have sat here while others have asked three and four supplementary questions.
I assert again that the Deputy has had quite some latitude from the Chair and should respect it.
I always respect the Chair, a Cheann Comhairle, but in return I expect the same privileges as other Members of the House.
The Deputy gets that, and perhaps a little more.
Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. The statement made by the Minister received a lot of coverage on the "Morning Ireland" radio programme. However, it did not go into the detail the Minister has gone into here. It simply referred to his statement that unemployment is traditional in areas such as the inner city of Dublin. I want to again ask the Minister if he accepts that the inner city of Dublin has the highest unemployment rate of any urban area in the State——
In the EC.
——that any measures taken to address this problem have been at best inadequate and at worse nonexistent and that the only tradition one could refer to in regard to the problems in that area is the tradition of neglect by successive Governments and——
That should be adequate, Deputy.
Maybe the Minister would answer my question.
I was waiting for the Deputy to complete his question. I did not want to be rude.
I will have more questions for the Minister after he has replied.
The Chair decides that, Deputy.
First, I want to correct the Deputy. He clearly did not read the text of the reply to the previous question. This is obvious from the question he put down——
I have it in front of me.
He has now but he did not have it when he put down the question.
The Minister said "it is traditional in some areas——
I was not referring to the inner city. The Deputy is being mischievious as usual.
What other areas was the Minister referring to where unemployment is traditional?
Everywhere at this stage.
We are seeking to direct resources from the pilot area-based programme.
Unemployment is traditional in those areas.
Deputy Gregory seems to be saying that he objects to the resources under the pilot area strategy being directed to parts of his own constituency.
I am not saying that. The Minister is being mischievious now.
That is what the Deputy seems to be saying. I can only conclude that from what he has said and from the question he put down. I should like to correct another point made by the Deputy. I did not mention the Dublin inner city——
The Minister mentioned his own area —"part of my area"——
The Deputy should read——
I have read the reply.
The Deputy has not. The highest unemployment level in Ireland is not in the north inner city. This area is a long way down the list.
No matter what waffle is used, it is the highest level in the EC.
This is not to say that the unemployment level in some areas is not higher. There are four or five areas in Dublin where unemployment is higher——
The Minister has not read the most recent reports.
That is not to say there are no difficulties. In spite of the wish of Deputy Gregory to try to prevent the north inner city being assisted by the pilot area-based programme and assist those people who are unemployed, I am glad to be able to say that the Government have decided that it is an area which will receive assistance.
May I ask the Minister if he, like many commentators, is convinced that nothing can be done about unemployment or does he believe that something can be done about it? Does he accept that parts of this city have the highest unemployment level in real terms of any city in the European Community?
I accept that in a great number of areas we have extremely high rates of unemployment and this must be tackled in an integrated way. One of the best approaches has been developed in the area-based strategy where the State, the local community — the people in the area who have knowledge and experience of unemployment problems — voluntary bodies and employers would work together to create jobs and tackle the problems of deprivation and social difficulties. If that is done in an integrated way it can beat the scourge of unemployment, particularly in inner city areas and in areas where there is a great density of housing.
The Minister is encouraging apathy on this subject. It is like manana.
That is a statement, Deputy. I am calling Deputy Gregory for a brief question.
May I specifically ask the Minister if he accepts that the Custom House Docks development was seen as the first sign of real hope of jobs in the north inner city but that in the few years it has been operating, only a derisory handful of jobs have gone to local people from the disadvantaged areas surrounding it, despite all the promises made by the Government when that development was starting off?
I had hoped to see more jobs being given to local people in the Custom House Docks area but there was a proportion of them given to local people. However, this must be taken in the context of all the other urban renewal projects in the area. Many developments in Deputy Gregory's constituency have given local employment.
The Minister in his reply to Deputy Gregory referred to the area based schemes and the pilot schemes now in operation. Does he not agree that these schemes place the onus on the local community? In many areas where there is no history of industrial activity these communities are deprived and as a result we are asking ordinary working people how to create jobs. That is precisely what is happening, and yet we are spending millions of pounds. The idea of putting money into the community is welcome but the Minister is asking people who are already deprived and unemployed how they will solve their own problem.