Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 24 Nov 1998

Vol. 497 No. 2

Written Answers - Employment Support Services.

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

42 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the plans, if any, there are to increase the number of job facilitators supporting back to work scheme applicants in localities with high long-term unemployment. [21137/98]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

Jobs facilitators form the core of my Department's employment support service. The service, which was established in 1993 at a time when the level of unemployment was increasing, was intended to support and encourage unemployed people, particularly the long-term unemployed, to take up employment or self-employment and to help in directing available employment, training and educational opportunities to them. The back-to-work allowance was introduced at the same time as a specific incentive for long-term unemployed people to ease the transition back into the active workforce.

The range of supports which job facilitators could provide has expanded over the years. My Department currently has 30 jobs facilitators operating at local level throughout the country. In addition there are ten co-ordinators at regional level to whom the job facilitators report and a central support unit for the employment support service generally.

Jobs facilitators have been particularly successful in encouraging over 40,000 unemployed people to take up employment or self-employment opportunities with the support of the back-to-work allowances and providing or arranging for additional supports where required. The work of the facilitators, together with the efforts made by my Department's local office and investigative staff has, in my view, contributed significantly to the major reduction in the live register which has been achieved in recent times. It is my intention that these efforts will be intensified and that a proactive approach aimed at helping unemployed people back into employment, training, education, etc., will continue to be a central feature of the Department's service to clients. Improved co-operation which other staff agencies such as FÁS and the Local Employment Service will be an important feature of this approach.

I am certainly considering how best the range of my Department's services for unemployed people should be developed in the future in the light of the current improving employment situation and will be considering the role of the job facilitators in that context with a view to ensure that available resources are used in the most effective way possible.