Vol. 611 No. 4
71 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason for the decrease in the employment rate of disabled persons in 2005 when €70 million is being spent on training and support to achieve the opposite effect. [37923/05]
The most recent estimate of the numbers of people with disabilities participating in the labour force was contained in the 2004 CSO QNHS disability update. This indicated that there were 110,800 people with disabilities in employment, which actually represented an increase of 900 on the 2002 figure. However, it is true that the percentage of those aged 15 to 64 with disabilities in employment fell from 40% to 37% over the period. This was due to the increase in the total number of 15 to 64 year-olds with a disability over the period. However, the CSO attributed this change to small survey changes rather than to a real significant increase.
This Government is committed to addressing the needs of those with disabilities. In particular, we are committed to removing the obstacles which make it difficult for people with disabilities to participate in the labour market. We have already done a great deal in this area. Under the Government's mainstreaming policy, my Department through FÁS is seeking to increase the participation of disabled workers through a three-pronged approach involving facilitating progression into sustainable employment through skills development, stimulating awareness amongst employers of the contribution that disabled people can make and encouraging their recruitment and providing specific employment supports for disabled people and employers.
People with disabilities now benefit from the full range of FÁS training programmes and services. Since 2002 FÁS has realised more than 29,000 placements of people with disabilities in open labour market employment, training and employment programmes. Since 2002, the FÁS budget for vocational training and employment for people with disabilities has increased from €54 million to €70 million. This includes additional funds to ensure accessibility of FÁS premises and services for people with disabilities.
FÁS provides an extensive range of schemes and grants specifically to promote the employment of people with disabilities in the private sector. These include the workplace or equipment adaptation grant, the employee retention grant scheme, the job interview interpreter grant and the personal reader grant.
Earlier this year, a new wage subsidy scheme was also introduced by FÁS. This is a significant initiative which has a 2005 budget of €10 million. The scheme offers financial support to employers outside the public sector to encourage them to employ people with disabilities who work in excess of 20 hours per week. Unlike other schemes, the potential exists for both the employee and the employer to receive an incentive. Therefore, I expect that this scheme will contribute to an improvement in the employment rate to which the Deputy refers.
In addition, the sectoral plan my Department is currently preparing for its area of responsibility in the context of the Disability Act will help set the agenda for addressing the remaining issues for people with disabilities participating in the labour market. It is an agenda this Government is committed to implementing.
Will the Minister of State admit that things are going wrong and the fact that the employment rate among people with disabilities is decreasing is a sign of failure? It is important to acknowledge that and no amount of statistical discussion of CSO survey results will make it less clear. Compared to international best practices, where employment rates of more than 60% are achieved among people with disabilities, not only are we going in the wrong direction but we are also at the lower end of the international scale. I want the Minister to accept that the CSO figures reveal that things are going wrong.
I fear that the process of planning here is short-term and reactionary. Last year the big issue in the budget was disability but I fear it will not be mentioned tomorrow. Two years ago, the big issue was decentralisation, whatever it will be tomorrow. That short-term reactionary approach does not provide a solution. Does the Minister of State agree with the contents of the NDA report in terms of recent employment of people with disabilities, that what we need is an absolute political commitment not just to the various schemes mentioned by the Minister of State, which are welcome, but which the OECD shows are not working, but to a change in the culture of this country with regard to the attitude of employers and society generally to people with disabilities? Does the Minister agree that the most important action we can take to improve their lot is to ensure access to jobs? More than any social welfare or other relief scheme, that gives people pride, purpose and a reason for getting out of bed speedily every day.
The NDA report's recommendation is that rather than concentrating on the pilot schemes, though they are welcome, we need cultural change, led from the top. Is the Minister of State willing to take that approach and tackle the general population, where we have the problem, rather than the disabled population, who are willing and able but are not being employed? Will the Minister of State take that different approach of tackling the broader population on this issue as well as following up on the schemes he has talked about? To allow the Minister of State make that commitment, he must first recognise that despite all our efforts, matters are heading in the wrong direction.
With regard to the cultural change which Deputy Ryan urges the Government to press on employers and able-bodied people, the Deputy and others should acknowledge that a magic wand cannot be waved with regard to employment of people with disabilities. Such employment is best achieved through the various initiatives and schemes to which the Government has been committed and on which FÁS has worked hard.
Each person with a disability is an individual, and each of the 900 additional people with disabilities now involved in employment is a significant individual beneficiary. We ought to acknowledge that having additional people benefiting and participating is a positive element, not just for them but for the country as a whole. I reject the Deputy's contention that the Government is concentrating on short-term reactionary policies. In general the plans are three and five year sectoral plans. They are cross-departmental and will be very effective by the end of those periods. The Government does not have the luxury enjoyed by the Opposition of being able to trawl through several hundred issues and pick out ones on which they can put forward negatives.
We will happily give the Minister of State that opportunity.
The Minister of State was unnecessarily provocative in his last contribution, considering that the programme for Government indicated we would have mainstreaming of all these employment opportunities for people with disabilities through the community employment schemes. Is that another broken promise? Will the Government do another U-turn on this matter in the context of the forthcoming year's Estimates and restore the commitment the Minister of State gave at that time in good faith to mainstream people with disabilities in terms of their employment and training requirements?
The most important element of the mainstreaming with regard to people with disabilities was in transferring this element of responsibility to FÁS, which clearly has responsibility in all the other areas of training and of placement of people in need of employment or training. That was the key decision, made in 2002. The rehabilitative and health-related issues have meanwhile been dealt with by the Department of Health and Children. The other employment issues are quite rightly dealt with by my Department, which has responsibility with regard to all other sectors for employment issues. The Government can already quite rightly say that it has already had the matter mainstreamed by having it ——
It has shifted it from one Department to another.
——by having it dealt with by exactly the same people who deal with employment for people who do not have disabilities. It must be acknowledged on all sides that this is the only manner in which that could have been done, and it has already been achieved.
72 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department has devised a concerted employment strategy for the Mallow hub-town; the components of such strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37876/05]
Support for employment and investment in individual towns is a day-to-day operational matter for the agencies under my Department. Under the industrial development Acts, I may give general policy directives to IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland but I am precluded from giving directives regarding individual undertakings or from giving preference to one area over others.
I am aware that the development agencies have strategies in place and offer a range of supports for investment and employment creation in Mallow and in the wider region. For example, both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland supported the Mallow development partnership in the preparation of its integrated development strategy for the town.
As a hub town under the national spatial strategy, Mallow is a key location for IDA Ireland and is currently the location for four client companies employing approximately 500 people. The IDA is actively marketing the town as a location for additional foreign direct investment through its network of local and overseas offices. The agency has planned a programme of site development works at its Mallow business park, which will be complete by the third quarter of 2006 and which will involve an investment of approximately €400,000. In addition to these site development works, IDA also plans to undertake some refurbishment of the 2,072 square metre advance factory on the park during the first quarter of 2006. There are currently 6.2 hectares available for development at the park and the IDA will continue to market this land to potential clients.
Enterprise Ireland works with approximately 140 companies in the east Cork area, which includes Mallow, with a total employment of some 3,700. In June 2005, Enterprise Ireland south-west region piloted the new enterprise start programme, a joint venture between Enterprise Ireland and FÁS, which has been designed for those mainly in employment who are seeking training in how to start a new enterprise. The agency plans to run the programme in Mallow in the second quarter of 2006.
The North Cork Enterprise Board, which services the Mallow area, focuses primarily on offering "first port of call" business information as well as a guidance service providing support and advice in the development of business proposals. Since 2003, a total of 24 business development training programmes have been offered by North Cork Enterprise Board.
The FÁS south-west region provides an integrated labour market service to the greater Mallow area from the FÁS office located in Main Street, Mallow. Currently a total of 180 people are participating in a range of 11 FÁS-supported community-based projects throughout the Mallow area. I am confident the strategies and policies being pursued by the agencies, together with the ongoing commitment of Government to regional development will bear fruit in terms of additional sustainable investment and jobs for the people of Mallow.
I thank the Minister. Is he aware that a very impressive presentation was made to the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business by the Mallow development partnership, which presented innovative proposals for integrated development in a hub town setting? Will the Minister provide funding, even on a pilot basis, to see if such integrated strategic planning can grow enterprises in a town such as Mallow?
What particular extra resources or supports does the Minister's Department give to towns designated under the special plan as hub towns? The hub town representatives I have met are at a loss to know, other than the title of "hub town", to what the hub towns are entitled by the designation. What additional supports are available to a hub town which are not available to a town which does not have that designation?
I have already outlined the strategies applied by the agencies to Mallow in particular. I have referred to the FÁS regional office based in Mallow and the Enterprise Ireland involvement.
The Government approach to Mallow has been very significant in recent years. When I was Minister for Education and Science, we modernised the second level schooling in Mallow, in particular the Thomas Davis college, and the other second level schools. State-of-the-art buildings are now in place there. We also dealt with primary school education issues there and helped with apprenticeship training in Mallow, all with a view to giving a bedrock and foundation stone for good economic development in the town. There was also significant health expenditure there, both in the acute hospital in Mallow and——
Will the Minister return to the question? We are not dealing with education now.
I am answering the question. Deputy Howlin asked me what a hub town generates. It generates that degree of investment across Departments. Likewise, regarding the railway link to Mallow, critical to its future economic development, it was announced in the Transport 21 initiative that the track will be modernised and that services will be more frequent. That will be of great significance to Mallow. The road network to Mallow has also improved dramatically in recent times. Adding all that up, including the IDA business park and its development, one has a very marketable commodity in Mallow. Its proximity to the gateway city of Cork adds to its overall attractiveness as a location for investment. That is evidenced by the growth of Mallow over the past few years and the numbers of people going to live there. There has been very significant economic activity in the town and it is time we acknowledged that.
We do not have a specific policy for every specific town in the country, nor would it be advisable to do so.
I asked a general question.
Deputy Howlin asked a question with the view that if he got the answer he wanted, he would have a question about another town next week. On the merry-go-round goes and I will not fall for that particular trap. There would be parliamentary questions on every town in Wexford next week if I were to go down that route.
Certainly.
The approach is that the Mallow development partnership will work with the State agencies in the preparation of a integrated development strategy. We advise the agencies to adopt that type of progressive and proactive approach. This has been the case in regard to Mallow. Because of its status as a hub town, Mallow has become a key location for the IDA in terms of attracting companies. Kostal, Germains and ITW Hi-Cone, all good quality companies, have located there. Kostal employs a significant number.
The science adviser might be better.
I thought the Deputy would be more enthusiastic.
73 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if it is intended to fill the recently vacated post of chief science adviser; if the filling of the post will be by advertisement and open competition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37880/05]
The chief science adviser is appointed by Government. As I have stated publicly, the post will be filled by open competition. It is expected the process will commence in the new year.
Does the Minister regret that the first such position was not filled by open competition? Was his announcement of the moving of the former chief science adviser to a new position done at his instigation? If not, who instituted that move? When was it first mooted to create a position as research co-ordinator within the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources? Why was this post not open to public advertisement?
The circumstances surrounding the first appointment to the post of chief science adviser have already been well articulated.
That is not my question. Does the Minister regret that the post was not filled by open competition?
No, I do not. The reasons for this were advanced at the time in terms of developing a science architecture for the purposes of Government and public policy and the availability of a person who had a strong track record in his responsibilities in the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.
It seems he was not good enough to retain.
This appointment was undertaken in good faith and in the context of his work in BioResearch Ireland and so on. That has been articulated at length.
He was the right person to appoint but the Government could not hold onto him.
It is time to move on.
In regard to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Deputy is aware that a broader undertaking is ongoing in terms of the strategic implementation plan for research. I chair the relevant Cabinet sub-committee. This initiative covers a wide range of Departments, one of which is the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. The latter has been looking at initiatives in terms of marine energy, particular communications and so on. Out of that process arose the need for a research co-ordinator. That is the context in which the Government decided to offer that position to the person who occupied the chief science adviser post until recently.
I will repeat my question in a very focused way. Perhaps then I will get an answer. When was it first decided to create the position of research co-ordinator within the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and why was that position not advertised?
I already said it arose in the context of the work we have been undertaking——
When?
In the last year. We have discussed with different Departments their respective sectoral plans that will feed into a broader Government strategic implementation plan on research. Arising from this, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources indicated he had a need for such a post and such a person. In the circumstances that evolved, it was considered by the Government that the person concerned would fulfil the needs and requirements of that particular position quite ably and effectively. Governments are entitled to take those decisions.
Why was Dr. McSweeney moved from his position as chief science adviser?
I have already issued a statement on this issue. The press release I issued at the time is a matter of public record. In the context of the controversy that had arisen at the time and its impact on the post of chief science adviser and future science policy, he agreed to move to a new position.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
