Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 2 Jul 1998

Vol. 493 No. 5

Written Answers. - Employment Action Plan.

Richard Bruton

Question:

84 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans, if any, she has to extend the local employment scheme nationwide; and the plans, if any, she has to modify the voluntary nature of engagement with the local employment scheme. [16766/98]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

I refer the Deputy to the reply I gave in this House on Tuesday, 30 June 1998 to Question No. 1.

In that reply I referred to Ireland's employment action plan, published and laid before this House only last April. A key element of the plan is the commitment to maximise existing resources devoted to the long-term unemployed through enhanced co-operation between FÁS and the employment support services of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and through giving the local employment service an integral role in the national employment service. From my perspective, a priority is to get both FÁS and the LES working together in a complementary manner to ensure that the needs and interests of the unemployed, in particular the long-term unemployed, are best met. The further expansion of the local employment service, to which there is a commitment in Partnership 2000, will take place in that context.

While I am cognisant of the voluntarist ethos which is associated with the local employment service, I am equally cognisant of the rights and obligations that attach both to the State and to unemployed people, as recognised in Partnership 2000 in the matter of delivering labour market reintegration supports. How best to reconcile these principles I would see being worked out in the context of the move towards greater co-operation and integration between the different strands of the employment services.

Richard Bruton

Question:

85 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the criteria, if any, she plans to apply for determining the reasonable offers the refusal of which would trigger withdrawal of income support; and, in particular, if refusal of a job offering less than £4.40 per hour and refusal of a training position in an area other than a person's chosen career path would be permissible. [16767/98]

Richard Bruton

Question:

86 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of persons per month which it is planned to screen in the under 25 age category to test whether they are accepting reasonable offers; the number of additional new places on community employment, FÁS training or other schemes which will be provided in order that substantial offers can be made; and if these offers will be made by displacing older categories of priority unemployment. [16792/98]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 86 together.

I refer the Deputy to the Government's employment action plan, agreed by the Government last April and subsequently published and laid before this House. The employment action plan sets out the policy measures and steps being taken at national level to give effect to the objectives of the four pillars and the 19 guidelines in the Council Resolution of December 1997.

The employment action plan indicated that the preventative strategy being implemented to give effect to the European employment guidelines on under 25s required an intervention for about 30,000 young persons per annum. This figure is based on the age by duration analysis of the live register by the CSO. Given the falling rate of youth unemployment, the actual figure is likely to be less. The process will be modelled generally on the Youth Progression Programme introduced for 18 and 19 years olds in October 1996.

The employment action plan is an integrated strategy. It is most certainly not about displacing older categories of unemployed persons from training and scheme places. In fact FÁS will shortly implement an action programme for long-term unemployed persons which will set targets for their increased participation in mainstream training. The independent review of community employment currently being undertaken by Deloitte and Touche may also suggest a basis for further targetting within the programme to cater for the existing stock of long-term unemployed.

The legal basis governing the rights and obligations of unemployed persons seeking work is set out in the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs regulations adopted by statutory instrument in May of this year. My Department participated in the discussions to formulate the regulations and the guidelines for the deciding officers of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs who apply the regulations. I also understand these were discussed with the appropriate Oireachtas committee. Both regulations and guidelines are in the public domain. There is also an appeals mechanism.

The guidelines set out the reasonability assumptions and tests to be applied by the deciding officer, whose function is a statutorily independent one, and I refer the Deputy to these. The introduction of the minimum wage will obviously impact on the reasonability test applied to pay by a deciding officer.