I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Coghlan.
I am aware of the redundancies last year and this year at the Alienware company which is located in Athlone. I understand that this company, which is an Irish limited company, is a subsidiary of the Dell Corporation, as Deputy O'Rourke has pointed out. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation received notification from Alienware on 1 April 2009 of an impending 57 redundancies at its plant in Athlone over an 18-month period.
It was clear from the notification and from subsequent inquiries made by officials of the Department at the time that, although linked to the Dell Corporation, the redundancies at Alienware were not directly linked to the 1,900 redundancies announced by Dell at its computer manufacturing facility in Raheen, County Limerick in January 2009. The subsequent application for European Union co-financing assistance made by Ireland under the European globalisation adjustment fund, EGF, was made specifically in regard to the Raheen redundancies.
Alienware is a distinct company and its business activity is in an area completely separate from that of the type of computer manufacture carried out at the Raheen plant. I understand that Alienware is involved in high-end computer gaming machines and systems. The rationale for the redundancies, as notified to the Department in April 2009 by the management, was one of infrastructural change to support the company's expansion and the streamlining of its operations by reducing costs to improve business efficiencies.
Strict criteria apply to the making of applications for co-financing assistance under the EGF regulation. The fund can provide supports where redundancies in a European Union member state result from trade related reasons. These reasons include delocalisation of production outside the European Union, a substantial increase of imports into the European Union or the rapid decline of the European Union share of the global market for a given sector. The EGF does not, however, provide supports in the case of a company restructuring or rationalisation such as that in the Alienware situation.
Applications must encompass a minimum number of 500 redundancies occurring within a four-month period in the case of a single enterprise fund. It is understood that Alienware was proposing up to 57 redundancies in a timeframe between April 2009 and October 2010. These criteria clearly militated against any application being pertinent to the case of the redundancies occurring at Alienware. Additional redundancies within the Dell company in other Irish locations have occurred since the redundancies at the Raheen plant which also were not eligible for EGF support.
Beyond the prescribed limits of EGF support, the Government continues to provide a wide and varied range of supports in terms of guidance, job search, upskilling, retraining, enterprise supports and educational opportunities for all redundant persons. These supports are delivered through the services of State agencies such as FÁS, the vocational education committees, Enterprise Ireland, the city and county enterprise boards and various educational institutions. The Government remains fully committed to upskilling the unemployed in order that they are successful in getting back into employment.
We are investing substantial resources in tackling our unemployment problem. This year more than €1 billion will be invested in the provision of a range of labour force measures. We are focusing our resources on a number of key cohorts of the unemployed which include the lower skilled, the long-term unemployed, those under 35 years of age, and those formerly employed in the manufacturing, construction and retail sectors. These cohorts have been prioritised as they are most likely to drift into very long-term unemployment.
In 2009 FÁS employment services, together with the local employment services, doubled their capacity. This means that the annual referral capacity under the national employment action plan rose from 78,000 persons in 2008 to 147,000 persons last year. The additional resources allocated by the Government to tackling the rising unemployment rate have also enabled the significant expansion of activation, training and work experience places. This year the total number of training and work experience activation places will be approximately 147,000 compared with the 66,000 places that were delivered in 2008 and the 130,000 places delivered last year. The bulk of this additional provision has been due to the increase in training places on short courses for the unemployed. FÁS now provides modular based training in order that participants can pick which modules they most require to improve their skills and increase their employability while maintaining a close link to the labour market.
Training courses are being delivered in innovative formats such as on-line, blended learning and night courses. In this way we are providing a range of delivery methods in addition to the traditional classroom approach, which enables more people access the services of FÁS. In addition to the places mentioned, Skillnets and FÁS will provide this year almost 10,400 training places for the unemployed or those on short-time working. Owing to the economic downturn, many individuals work for two or three days each week and receive social welfare payments for the days they do not work. Skillnets and FÁS provide training opportunities for these people. Individuals participating in these programmes can avail of training for the days they do not work while retaining their social welfare entitlements, subject to the normal social welfare rules applying. This means these individuals are able to use their reduced working week as an opportunity to upskill, thereby improving their employability.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
The Government is acutely aware of the large numbers of people under 25 years of age who are unemployed. That is why the Government has decided this cohort will receive priority access to the State's supports for the unemployed, such as FÁS employment and training services. FÁS has been asked to make significant prioritisation of services for those under 25 years of age a key element in its provision in 2010. An initiative has been put in place to immediately activate 18 and 19 year olds instead of waiting the usual three months for this automatic activation.
The main specific provision for early school leavers continues to be training at community training centres and vocational education committees under the Youthreach programme. The Government is maintaining the 6,000 places available in this programme at a cost of approximately €110 million. Another important initiative which would be of particular relevance to this cohort is the work placement programmewhich has 2,000 places, of which 1,000 are for graduates. Participants on the programme gain work experience for a period of up to nine months and may retain their social welfare entitlements, subject to the normal social welfare rules applying. This work experience will significantly improve their chances of securing paid employment in future.
The Government has implemented a variety of measures which will support around 4,000 redundant apprentices to progress their apprenticeships. These measures include a new €4 million redundant apprentices placement scheme for up to 750 apprentices participating in on-the-job training at phases 3 and 5, agreeing with ESB Networks to take on 400 redundant apprentices at phases 5 and 7 over a period of 18 months, amending the rules for off-the-job training to facilitate redundant apprentices to progress their apprenticeship, and the provision by the institutes of technology of a programme for redundant apprentices which will provide them with a level 5 FETAC award which allows for access and transfer of credits to other post-apprenticeship programmes.
The education sector has been very proactive in responding to the need for increased offerings for the unemployed. This can clearly be seen in the significant increase in the number of back to education allowance recipients which has increased to more than 18,000, many of whom are participating in further and higher education programmes. In the further education sector this year an estimated 126,000 learners will benefit from part-time learning opportunities for the low skilled, the disadvantaged and the unemployed. A total of 40,000 learners will benefit from full-time further education opportunities under Youthreach, the vocational training opportunities scheme and the post-leaving certificate programme. These programmes are targeted at the unemployed or are specifically designed to enhance participants' employability.
There is clear evidence which shows that increasing numbers of people are choosing to pursue third and fourth level education. This is a welcome trend at a time of reduced opportunity for school leavers entering into the labour market. The total number of full-time enrolments in universities and institutes of technology is projected to be more than 140,000 for this academic year, an increase of 4.5% on the last academic year.
The Government has also created a €20 million labour market activation fund to support innovative proposals over and above mainstream provision for the unemployed. Several hundred proposals from the public, private, community and voluntary sectors are being assessed and it is expected this fund will provide at least 3,500 training places this year. The activation fund targets the low skilled and those formerly employed in declining sectors such as the construction, retail and manufacturing sectors, with a particular focus on those aged under 35 and those unemployed for more than one year. Successful proposals will be those that can show they will provide the unemployed with skills that are in demand to enable them secure employment or to progress them on the pathway to employment.
The Government's core strategy in this area is one of creating jobs, supporting enterprises, protecting vulnerable jobs and providing the unemployed with upskilling opportunities to get them into employment as soon as possible. While EGF supports cannot be provided in the particular instance of the redundancies occurring at Alienware, I hope I have highlighted the wide range of alternative national supports which exist. I urge all those currently unemployed, including those at Alienware, to avail of these supports as appropriate. I thank the Deputy once again for raising this matter.
