Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 22 Sep 2009

Vol. 689 No. 3

Adjournment Debate.

Job Initiative Programme.

Deputy Pat Rabbitte

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this item concerning the future of the job initiative scheme, which has less than 1,450 participants throughout the country. I was directly associated with the creation of the scheme in 1996. In 2004, the then Minister decided that no new entrants should be admitted to the scheme from that date. However, the economic environment has changed completely since 2004. The scheme, as we devised it in 1996, was designed to provide full-time employment for people aged 35 or over and who had been unemployed for five years or more.

In the approximately 12 years the job initiative programme has been in existence, it has provided meaningful work for a few thousand people who otherwise might have been left on the dole queues. More importantly, these people have done immensely valuable work in their own communities that might otherwise have not been done. If the Tánaiste was now to dismantle the scheme, she would be dismantling the essential infrastructure that supports the community sector in dozens of locations throughout the country.

In my constituency there are six job initiative projects, providing full-time employment to 103 people. These people are involved in a myriad of services essential to the community, for example after-school care, breakfast clubs, homework clubs and gardening and security services. The job initiative projects provide jobs in the social economy in administration and maintenance. The areas supported by these workers are community centres, creches, enterprise centres and parish properties. Imagine the damage that would be done to the social fabric of a struggling community if the Minister was to pull the plug on these projects.

These workers have now acquired rights. The communities they serve have grown to rely on the services they provide. Together they have made a world of difference in their own communities. I am not sure the powers that be have much of an appreciation of the nature of community development or community action. I do not believe that top-level decision makers generally appreciate the value of the work done in such communities nor have they attempted a cost benefit analysis of such services compared to the cost to the Exchequer if these services were not provided in the community by the community.

I cannot claim that the job initiative scheme has evolved exactly as was envisaged when we launched it in 1996. However, one of the most gratifying things for me is to observe how the programme has enabled participants who otherwise would have no opportunity to become involved in education to achieve diplomas, degrees, FETAC qualifications and certificates. It would be folly for the Government to butcher the job initiative scheme. In the medium term it will cost the Exchequer more to cope with the fallout if the good work undertaken by these projects is undermined. I hope the Tánaiste will be able to assure participants that their jobs are secure and that she will be able to assure the communities reliant on the job initiative scheme that they will not be deprived of the valuable services that they enjoy as a result of the scheme.

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Deputy Dara Calleary)

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist seo anocht. FÁS employment services comprise the community employment and job initiative programmes. As Deputy Rabbitte outlined, the job initiative programme was launched by him in July 1996 and continues to provide full-time employment for people who are 35 years of age or over, unemployed for five years or more, and in receipt of social welfare payments over that period.

FÁS, as an agency of my Department, operates the job initiative programme with a dedicated budget of €39 million for 2009. There are 1,444 participants, with this number decreasing annually due to retirement and other reasons. The main purpose of the programme, as outlined by Deputy Rabbitte, is to assist long-term unemployed people to prepare for work opportunities by providing participants with work experience, training and development opportunities. The programme is sponsored by voluntary organisations and public bodies involved in not-for-profit activities. FÁS provides financial support to assist with the job initiative programme, for example, participant wages. Also, while on the programme participants can retain entitlements such as medical cards or child dependent allowance, and be eligible for others such as revenue job assist.

Following changes introduced on 10 November 2004 by the then Minister, Deputy Micheál Martin, in response to labour market conditions at the time, no new entrants have been admitted onto job initiative schemes. However, contracts for existing participants are renewed, allowing them the option to continue until they are 65 years of age. In order to support the service being provided, community employment scheme participants replace participants who leave the job initiative programme voluntarily or through retirement.

In addition, the community employment programme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged people with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a fixed term basis. The purpose of the community employment programme is to help the unemployed to re-enter the open labour market by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to a work routine and to assist them to enhance their technical and personal skills.

The current eligibility criteria are well known to Members of the House and I want to draw attention to a number of changes that have been made to cater for older workers in particular. In 2004, the standard three year community employment programme cap was revised to allow those of 55 years of age and over to avail of a six-year period on the community employment programme based on participation since 3 April 2000. Subsequently, the participation limit for persons eligible for the community employment programme based on a social welfare disability linked payment, including those under 55, was increased by one year. These measures were introduced in recognition of the fact that older participants and participants with a disability may find it more difficult to progress into the open labour market. I should also point out that the community services programme, operated by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and the Minister, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, offers many of the same services and is providing many of the same opportunities as the job initiative scheme.

Funding for community employment in 2009 was €380 million and at present there are more than 22,000 people participating on community employment schemes. An additional €6.6 million was provided to FÁS for the provision of an additional 400 community employment places in 2009. In delivering these places, FÁS operates flexibly in the management of this allocation to maximise progression to the labour market while at the same time facilitating the support of community services. This provision of places is managed through a standardised application process between regional FÁS offices and local sponsor and community organisations and any issues regarding the allocation of places are dealt with in this context. However, it should be remembered that, in so far as participants remain on community employment programmes, they preclude someone else from benefiting from the programme.

FÁS makes every effort to ensure that differing levels of demand between neighbouring schemes are equalised. FÁS also operates the programme flexibly as far as possible to ensure the continuation of community projects. The Government will continue to support the positive role of FÁS employment schemes in meeting the needs of long-term unemployed people at this difficult time. I will be happy to sit down with Deputy Rabbitte, given his experience from previous times, to share ideas with him on redesigning the existing schemes.

Deputy Pat Rabbitte

I thank the Minister of State.

Schools Building Projects.

Deputy Ciarán Lynch

It is with a certain level of regret that I raise this matter on the Adjournment this evening. In February, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, gave a commitment that construction of a new primary school at Star of the Sea in Passage West would go ahead. We are now three months from the end of the year and given a number of factors it seems a sod will not be turned in the Passage West area and that it will be business as usual for teachers, school staff, pupils and parents over the next school year.

It is unfortunate that the Minister has not come to the Chamber given his familiarity with the issue having represented the Cork South Central area in the past, and particularly so given that a series of promises was made relating to the school, which coincided with every general election and local election over the past ten years; if one was to track the dates of press statements from the Government and the dates of general elections one would see they are almost placed on top of one another. It is unfortunate that the Minister has not come to the Chamber this evening. However, I hope that some comfort for the local community in Passage West can be drawn from what the Minister of State has to say in his response.

I would not like to hear the Government hiding behind some current economic situation given that it is ten years since the first promise was made that a new school would be built in the Passage West area. Given that the local community has been waiting very patiently for this, it would be unfair for the Minister to push the patience of the local community any further.

On the first day of school this September, we witnessed 400 children being dropped off at a school built for 150 pupils — more than twice the capacity for which it was originally designed. The car park and play area no longer exist because they are full of prefabs. The over-congestion in the school makes day-to-day services and extracurricular activities, which operate outside the classroom, impossible for the school to provide.

Will the Minister give a commitment that the school will commence this year? Seven weeks ago, Cork County Council asked for further information in regard to the design brought forward by the Minister and his Department. I cannot figure out why it has taken almost two months for the Department to respond. I hope the Minister will indicate that the architect will be given a deadline to ensure the drawings are issued to Cork County Council, that the planning process will continue and that a decision will be made on the application in the coming weeks.

Will the Minister acknowledge the local community, which deserves any credit on this issue? It took its campaign to the streets of Cork city and the national and local media which eventually resulted in progress. It belies the notion that Fianna Fáil in government is not good for one's community. The local community was told by Ministers for Education and Science to leave the issue with them and that they would get back to it but it was only when the community stopped playing that game and went public that real action was taken and the Department started to issue it with meaningful responses.

I would like to know if the Department has issued the further information and drawings to Cork County Council. I would also like the Minister to give an assurance that construction will begin on Star of the Sea primary school before the end of the year and that funding for the school will not be lost as the Department prepares for the Estimates for the 2010 school year.

Deputy Dara Calleary

I thank Deputy Lynch for raising the issue and sympathise with him on last weekend's all-Ireland result. I share his pain. The Minister for Education and Science could not come to the House and asked me to take this matter for him.

Modernising facilities in existing building stock as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth such as that referred to by the Deputy is a significant challenge. The Government has shown a consistent determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

All applications for capital funding are assessed in the planning and building unit of the Department. The assessment process determines the extent and type of need presenting based on the demographics of an area, proposed housing developments, condition of buildings, site capacity, etc., leading to an appropriate accommodation solution.

As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners. The original criteria were revised and refined in 2004.

Projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project — in other words, a proposed building project moves through the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it.

There are four band ratings overall, of which band one is the highest and band four the lowest. Band one projects, for example, include the provision of buildings where none currently exists but there is a high demand for pupil places while a band four project makes provision of desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities such as a library or new sports hall.

The proposed new school building for Star of the Sea primary school has been assigned a band one rating. As the Deputy will be aware, in February, the Minister for Education and Science announced details of 43 major building projects to proceed to tender and construction in which the Star of the Sea primary school was included.

All major projects on the Department's capital programme progress through the same structured process of architectural planning which is divided into clearly defined stages. The stages of architectural planning are set out in the Department's design team procedures and are necessary to comply with Department of Finance guidelines which require that capital projects be fully designed prior to going to tender. They also ensure proper cost management of capital projects and facilitate compliance with statutory and public procurement requirements.

At present, there are five stages involved in the progression of major school projects through architectural planning. This project is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning and a stage 2b submission is expected shortly from the design team.

The brief for this project is to provide a new 16 classroom generic repeat design, GRD, school building, including a general purpose hall and ancillary accommodation, on a greenfield site. An application has been made for planning permission and a decision is awaited. An application for a fire safety certificate has also been made. I will ask the Minister to respond directly to the delay in providing extra information.

The allocation for school buildings in 2009 is almost €614 million which represents a significant investment in the school building and modernisation programme. This level of funding for the building programme at a time of huge pressure on public finances is a sign of the very real commitment of this Government to investing in school infrastructure and will permit the continuation of progress in the overall improvement of school accommodation.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and will revert to him with specific details on the current situation.