asked the Minister for Labour if, in view of the growing need to provide greater facilities for the retraining of redundant workers, he will outline the steps he proposes to take to ensure that the service will be adequate to meet the demand.
Ceisteanna——Questions. Oral Answers. - Redundant Workers Training.
19.
The Government's manpower policy gives priority to the provision of training and retraining facilities for unemployed and redundant workers. Since the inception of AnCO nine permanent training centres and five temporary centres have been set up with a capacity of approximately 1,800 training places, giving a throughput of 4,500 persons per annum.
Plans are being implemented for the expansion of training and retraining facilities to the maximum extent possible within the resources available from the Exchequer, supplemented by grants from the European Social Fund and a loan from the World Bank. These plans envisage a training capacity catering for 11,500 trainees per annum by 1978 or approximately 1 per cent of the labour force trained in that period.
Would the Minister not agree that whatever plans were made up to this year must now be archaic and of little use in view of the large number of redundancies that occurred within the past few months?
Yes. As I said at the opening of the Dundalk training centre recently, if the unemployment figures worsen appreciably this winter we will have to expand further the already expanded training programme to meet such circumstances.
Is the Minister confident that the structure of the retraining machinery will meet the unprecedented demands that will be made on it by January next?
The programme, as devised, provides for massive expansion. I agree with the Deputy that should the unemployment situation seriously worsen we shall have to expand that programme further, even in the short term for this winter. Already I have given an undertaking in that regard.
How strong or how weak is the redundancy fund?
That is a separate matter.
Therefore, I shall table a question in order to elicit the information.
I can assure the Deputy that while the fund is not flourishing, neither is it bankrupt.