Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 December 2012
289. Deputy Paudie Coffey asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to establish territorial employment pact areas based on the NUTS 3 regions here, similar to that which was done in Austria in the late 1990s and early 2000s; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55058/12]
View answerTerritorial Employment Pacts (TEPs) originated in 1998 as an initiative of the EU aimed at developing local, participatory and coordinated actions targeting unemployment and new employment opportunities in regions, cities, towns, rural areas and employment catchment areas that share certain socioeconomic characteristics. I understand there were 85 TEPs established throughout the EU.
The Commission view was that Employment Pacts should encourage widespread regional or local partnership in high unemployment areas. At that time, Ireland had already put in place the Operational Programme for Local Urban and Rural Development (OPLURD) at local and district level, which encompassed much of what TEPs intended to address. Accordingly, four Irish TEPs were established, each with a different type of regional focus. In 2001, responsibility for the Employment Pacts was transferred from the Department of the Taoiseach to the then Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and mainstreamed within the Local Development Social Inclusion Measure of the S&E and BMW Regional Operational Programmes of the National Development Plan, administered through Pobal.
I have no plans to establish Territorial Employment Pacts based on the NUTS 3 Regions. My Department currently operates the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP), launched in January 2010 as a successor to two previous programmes – the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme and the Community Development Programme. The objective of the LCDP is to tackle poverty and social exclusion through partnership and constructive engagement between Government, its agencies, and people in disadvantaged communities. It is a key tool of Government in providing supports, including employment supports, to the ‘harder to reach’ in the most disadvantaged areas of the country.
In terms of future approaches, the Government is committed, following the adoption in October 2012 of Putting People First: Action Programme for Effective Local Government, to bringing greater alignment between local and community development and local government.
