Vol. 500 No. 4
82 Mr. Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason the proposed nationwide network of local employment services has not been established at a time when there are skills shortages in a number of sectors and 215,000 people on the live register. [2457/99]
The local employment service is just one component of our national employment service function, with the other, and indeed larger, component being provided by FÁS. They have a critical role to play in helping unemployed people back into work, particularly in the context of our national action plan for employment. FÁS itself has undertaken a major reform and strengthening of its employment service and additional funding has been provided both to increase its personnel resource as well as its operating systems. Likewise the local employment service is being expanded to a further seven areas this year which will bring to 25 the number of areas throughout the country in which it is operational.
I have, however, been concerned that we are not getting the best value from the considerable resources – amounting to around £25 million in this current year – which we are investing in our employment services. We need to achieve better co-ordination and complementarity between the two strands of the service, which I believe can best be achieved through an improved organisational structure. I am developing proposals in that regard which I will be bringing to Government shortly. The aim here, among other things, is to ensure that the further development of our employment services and infrastructure will take place in a co-ordinated and coherently planned way and, in particular, ensure that of duplication of effort and resource is avoided.
