Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 6 Oct 1998

Vol. 494 No. 4

Written Answers. - Local Employment Service.

Pat Carey

Question:

116 Mr. P. Carey asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on whether the resourcing of the local employment service is sufficient; whether it has developed enough tangible links with the labour market to make a significant impact on reducing the numbers of the long-term unemployed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18387/98]

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

I am satisfied that the staffing and financial resources available to the LES are sufficient to enable it to carry out its role.

For this year, 1998, my Department has a total of £9.3 million available for the operation of the current 18 local employment service networks. Some of the local partnership companies have also contributed funding to the LES. Certain Government Departments and agencies have also made resources, in particular staff, available to the LES. At present there are over 250 staff employed in the LES networks which represents a considerable resource dedicated to the unemployed.

Each LES submits an annual budget request to my Department and this is discussed in detail between the two parties. A budget proposal is then put to an interdepartmental advisory group for final approval. There is, therefore, a consultative process involved in allocating resources to the individual LES areas.

The LES is providing an important locally based service to the unemployed with a range of features which have made the LES so attractive to many people. It has developed links between the State agencies providing services to the unemployed. It has also developed links with employers in their localities. I acknowledge, however, that the recent report from Eustace Patterson evaluating the LES recommended that further action was needed in certain locations on these two fronts. My Department will follow up on this report with the LES networks.

To date, the LES has engaged with 25,800 people. Almost 20,000 clients are currently placed in jobs or active on some form of progression path towards employment.

I announced, on 26 September 1998, the expansion of the LES to seven new areas, namely Bray, southside, canal communities in Dublin, Galway city, Monaghan, Tralee and Waterford city. For 1999, in the multi-annual Estimates, a total of £14 million is earmarked for the operation of the expanded LES.

It is important to make the point that the LES comprises just one strand of our dual-stranded national employment service, with the second strand being provided through FÁS, which has 400 people engaged in this function. In the year to date, for example, the FÁS employment service has handled 64,000 newly registered clients and is known to have placed almost 23,000 people in open market jobs and a further 25,000 have left the active job seekers' register to enter FÁS employment and training programmes.

It is essential to ensure that both services develop and work in a co-ordinated and complementary fashion, particularly in the context of commitments made under the national employment action plan. Discussions are currently taking place with relevant interests with a view to ensuring that we put in place the most appropriate structural arrangements to achieve those objectives.