I sympathise with Deputy Flaherty who had to cram what she had to say into four minutes which must have been very difficult.
Over the past few weeks the increasing importance of the European Community dimension has become more evident.
First, the massive cash injection of the Community Support Framework will help us achieve improved competitiveness and efficiency. Human resources development has a major part to play in this task. This is recognised in the priorities of the Community Support Framework where £2,209 million will be spent on strategies to promote training and employment Of this, £1,123 million will come through the Structural Funds. This is equivalent to more than a third of the total assistance guaranteed to Ireland over the next four years.
Already we have benefited very significantly from Structural Funds assistance, particularly the Social Fund, over the past years. This year alone Ireland was approved for assistance of over £183 million from the Social Fund. This was used mainly to fund programmes of vocational training and job creation for young persons, unemployed adults, the long term unemployed and the handicapped. Management and new technology training also benefited. The main recipients of this assistance were FÁS, the Department of Education, the National Rehabilitation Board, the IDA, TEAGASC, CERT and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Aer Lingus also received assistance towards the cost of training pilots.
I have reported before the view in Brussels that Ireland shows the clearest evidence of all the member states of the value of this Social Fund assistance. The Exchequer would not have been able to create unaided the comprehensive range of programmes and the networks of support structures that we now have. Without this, the development of our industry and services would have been seriously impaired.
In the development of the single market, the social dimension is as important as the economic dimension. The Government have always strongly supported the social dimension as an essential counterbalance to the concentration on economic development.
Many aspects of this policy have not been controversial, for instance, in the field of safety and health at work where valuable progress has been made. Indeed, in Ireland, we have this year seen the parallel enactment of the safety, health and welfare at work legislation, which radically extends statutory protection and emphasises the need for preventive strategies.
However, in other spheres such as the Social Charter, it has proved more difficult to reach unanimity. The Social Charter was eventually accepted by Ireland and ten of the other member states. It was drawn up with the objective of reducing disparities between working standards between member states. It also seeks to ensure that basic protective standards are maintained in the single market.
The Charter is a valuable signpost and has always, at every level, been fully supported by Ireland. We did not at any time seek to dilute the Charter. Any amendments which we sought were aimed at ensuring that the Charter was compatible with our national circumstances.
In the negotiation of the Charter, we had two overriding priorities. First was the fight against unemployment. This does not, of course, preclude a policy of improving the conditions of those at work, especially regarding basic protection standards. Second, we wanted to ensure that only those tasks that could better be achieved at Community level would be the subject of Community law. For other tasks, because of the delivery of national practices and the complexities of change, it will be up to member states to implement the commitments through collective bargaining and national legislation.
The text which finally emerged from the negotiations was a reasonable balance, retaining the overall aims but including elements of compromise by all the member states.
I want to emphasise that the Charter, together with the Commission action programme for its implementation, is very important and far reaching. For the first time it sets out a coherent and comprehensive strategy in the field of worker protection. Its implementation will be a challenge for all of us: the Community, the Government, employers and employees. We have to improve and maintain working conditions and at the same time improve the efficiency and competitiveness of our businesses and sustain a healthy economic environment.
It will fall to us, when we take over the Presidency in about two weeks' time, to maintain this momentum. I have already discussed our Presidency programme with the Commission. I will be developing these discussions further, in consultation with both the Commission and the Social Affairs Ministers of the next two Presidencies, Italy and Luxembourg. My overriding priority in the Social Affairs Council will continue to be job creation, and a particular help for the long term unemployed. This is a Community wide problem and Community wide action must help to tackle it.
I also hope to complete FORCE 92, a proposal on in-company continuing training. We want to make progress on dossiers such as those on freedom of movement for workers, safety and health and measures for the disabled. I want to continue the progress towards improved living and working conditions. This is an essential part of making sure all our people benefit from the completion of the Single Market.
Turning to the Industrial Relations Bill, 1989 and to the domestic scene, an important factor in promoting conditions for employment growth is the degree of industrial harmony. Last week I introduced in this House the Industrial Relations Bill, 1989. The measures it contains represent the most significant changes in this area since the 1940s. I am confident that it will provide a better framework for collective bargaining and dispute settlement.
I do not want to go into too much detail about the Bill, as the House will have the opportunity of debating it early in the new year. But I would just remind the House that in summary it provides for amending trade dispute law in relation to civil immunities, to secondary picketing, to mandatory secret ballots in advance of industrial action and to the granting of injunctions. The Bill also provides for the establishment of a labour relations commission, which will enable the Labour Court to become again a court of final resort dealing with the most serious and intractable disputes.
The Bill was drawn up following lengthy discussions with both sides of industry, to which I was committed under the Programme for National Recovery. I am satisfied that it represents a package which all sides can support. I thank the Federation of Irish Employees and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for the time and effort they put into the discussions leading to the drafting of the legislation.
It is a particularly favourable time to introduce these changes because of the improving industrial relations climate. I am delighted with the further dramatic drop in strike activity this year. The number of strikes is likely to be the lowest in the history of the State. The number of workdays lost will be about 40,000, only 10 per cent of the level some four or five years ago and way below the catastrophic level of over one million in the 1970s. Much of this dramatic improvement is, of course, attributable to the Programme for National Recovery and its associated pay agreements, together with tax reductions from the Government.
On worker participation the success of the historic consensus in the programme is equally applicable at the level of the individual enterpise. In the challenging decade ahead, it is vital for companies to gain the full support of their workforce in the drive for quality and competitiveness. State bodies have made considerable progress towards employee involvement. Where appropriate, this is at board level, and indeed Deputies may remember that I recently apointed two worker directors to the board of FÁS. In other organisations, sub-board participative structures are being developed as being more suitable. I would strongly urge the private sector to follow suit. They should consider what consultation arrangements can be introduced which would be to the mutual advantage of both the individual enterprise and to employees.
In March earlier this year I held a briefing day on sub-board participation for public sector management, and in September my Department published, in conjunction with the Irish Productivity Centre, a book of "Case Studies on Employee Participation". I recommend this book as providing evidence of the benefits of employee involvement, in articles written by the people actually concerned.
I would like here to make a brief reference to the completion of the difficult task of negotiating the framework agreement on hours of work between the social partners in February this year. I understand that progress is being maintained at individual company level in negotiating actual reductions in the length of the working week. Again this agreement is further evidence of the success of the consensus approach at national and local levels. I hope that during the early months of 1990 any concluding areas will be agreed and hours reduction will be widespread.
The development of the skills of our workforce, both employees and those seeking work, is an essential element in our overall strategy for economic development.
FÁS this year will have an average of about 14,500 people in training in any one week, and throughout the year they had about 15,000 on employment programmes. The priority groups continue to be early school leavers and the long-term unemployed. The regionalisation of both planning and delivery within FÁS has meant that programmes are much more closely aligned with local circumstances and targeted to local needs. In training those with jobs, the employer has the primary responsibility but FÁS continue to be available to assist where possible. The levy-grant system has recently been revised to make it less bureaucratic and easier for both sides to operate.
Planning for a new programme of retraining for industrial restructuring is at an advanced stage. This programme is aimed at helping employees, particularly in small and medium sized enterprises, to update skills and acquire new skills in anticipation of the changing needs of the 1990s.
On apprenticeships earlier this week I launched a major discussion document drawn up by FÁS on apprenticeship training. I want to stress that this is a discussion document; it is not a decision by the board of FÁS. I know that FÁS are very anxious to get the views of all interested parties on their proposals before coming to a final decision in the spring.
We all know that a high level of craft skills is a cornerstone of the quality of our workforce. While the existing system has worked well in the past, we need now to develop a system emphasising flexibility and the achievement of internationally recognised standards. The proposed new system recognises this by requiring the achievement of set standards for each module and by providing a broadly based training initially, with the chance to develop specialist skills later on. It will rationalise the delivery system and avoid duplication of State resources. The proposals also include special provisions to facilitate and encourage the entry into apprenticeship of early school leavers, older workers, disabled people and women.
The proposed system will increase the demand for apprentices and it will share both the costs and the benefits of apprenticeship more equitably between employers. I would urge everyone concerned to consider it carefully and positively, and to pass on their views to FÁS.
In the hotel, catering and tourism sector, CERT continue to provide excellent training with a virtual guarantee of a job for those completing both their craft courses and their short basic skills courses. They also provide valuable assistance, through both direct training and consultancy work, towards the future development of the industry. Their activities are central to the achievement of the Government's ambitious targets for the growth of this sector.
I have been very concerned to ensure that the benefits of the State's substantial provision of training and employment programmes are spread equitably among the unemployed. With this in mind, I have taken a number of measures this year, both in relation to allowances and for other support mechanisms.
I wanted to ensure that older people with dependants could opt for training or employment programmes without financial cost. I have, therefore, introduced a weekly £10 bonus to trainees with dependants, on top of their existing training allowances which are set at the equivalent of their social welfare entitlements.
On the social employment scheme, I also introduced an allowance of normally £10 per week for each dependent child. This will operate from 1 January 1990. This is, of course, in addition to the increase I secured last July in both the basic wage, up from £60 to £65 per week, and the adult dependant allowance, up from £25 to £27 per week. The new child dependant allowance will significantly improve the position for social employment scheme participants with family commitments.
I also introduced, as part of a Government package, measures to stimulate activity in disadvantaged urban areas, in other words those areas with unemployment rates substantially above average. I got approval for an additional 1,000 places on the social employment scheme specially for these areas, and I am delighted to say that over 300 of these places have already been taken up. Additional financial help is now available towards community youth training programmes and community enterprise schemes in these areas. A new workshop programme for older people who left school without qualifications is being piloted by FÁS.
I have asked FÁS to play a lead role in organising and encouraging community projects in disadvantaged urban areas, which might not otherwise fully take up a fair share of the opportunities available.
I was delighted to see from my Department's 1989 school leavers survey, published last Monday, that the number of young people dropping out of school without qualifications is falling, down by nearly a full percentage point from last year. I have always been convinced that the education system is the best way of tackling this undoubted problem, with its life-time result of poor employment prospects. However, I am also pleased to see that FÁS and the VECs are successfully operating the Youthreach programme, which started last January. This programme, designed especially for early school leavers, gives them a real chance, over two years, to develop skills and improve their chances of getting viable, satisfying jobs.
For the 83 per cent of the labour force who do have jobs, I am anxious to ensure that their working conditions are protected by the necessary statutory provisions. I have already referred in this context to the Social Charter and, briefly, to the extension of occupational safety and health protection.
My priority now is to ensure that part-time workers are no longer excluded from the existing body of workers protection legislation. I hope to bring proposals for legislation before the Government shortly and to introduce the resulting Bill into the House in the new year. I appreciate the legitimate concerns of employers for flexibility in the operation of their business, but I feel it essential to put in place balanced legislation which will give part-time workers the necessary degree of protection.
The preparation of amending legislation on employment equality, unfair dismissals and the payment of wages is also well advanced. However, I have been giving priority to the Industrial Relations Bill and the needs of part-time workers. Consequently it was not possible to make sufficient progress on the other items of my legislative programme to enable me to introduce the relevant Bills in the House this year.
There has been much talk recently, in the context of both the Social Charter and recently publicised Irish research, on the problem of low pay. I have examined this very carefully and am strongly convinced that the best hope for progress in this area lies in the strength of our collective bargaining system. The pay agreements associated with the Programme for National Recovery took account in particular of the needs of the lower paid. In individual sectors, about 40,000 workers are already covered by the Joint Labour Committee or JLC system, which is a flexible and effective means of tackling the problem.
I would like to emphasise briefly three particular points in relation to JLCs. First, JLCs can be set up in any area which is felt to be in need of wage regulation. Secondly, the minimum rates set under JLCs are enforced by inspectors of my Department, who collected for employees over £100,000 in arrears last year. And, thirdly, the new Industrial Relations Bill includes provisions designed to improve the functioning of existing JLCs and to speed up the establishment of new committees. The proposed new Labour Relations Commission would monitor and review existing JLCs and would examine whether and where new JLCs were needed. Overall, I am satisfied that the existing system is itself effective and can be extended as necessary.
The overall objective of labour market measures is to facilitate and contribute to job creation and tackle unemployment. It is important, however, that these should not be considered in isolation. Earlier this year the Government set up a ministerial committee on employment, which I chair. This committee has already had a wide ranging package of proposals accepted and implemented. It is continuing to consider further initiatives.
Two proposals in particular were aimed at creating new jobs: first the introduction of a new PRSI exemption scheme, targeted to achieved at least 5,000 new jobs, and secondly, a new system of training contracts for young people, targeted to achieve 1,000 jobs.
The package also improved the employment incentive scheme to give improved assistance, targeted on early school leavers, the long-term unemployed, and other disadvantaged groups. For example, if used in conjunction with the PRSI exemption scheme, employers can qualify for subsidies of nearly £4,000 for the first year of taking on additional staff from the ranks of the long-term unemployed. And the enterprise allowance scheme has been revamped to concentrate the financial assistance in the early months of a new business. The availability of these various aids to job creation underpins my recent appeals to employers to create more jobs.
I welcome the drop in redundancies notified to my Department in 1989. They are down some 40 per cent on last year's levels. This at least means a higher net job creation level due to lower offsetting job losses.
Last week I took part in a very productive seminar, which FÁS organised at my request, to consider measures to boost job creation. The seminar brought together prominent employers and trade union leaders in a private forum outside the normal mechanisms for exchanging views. I was very pleased with the very informative proceedings and the positive atmosphere. The results of the conference will be very carefully considered by the ministerial committee on employment early in the new year and by FÁS themselves where appropriate.
I hope these measures will contribute to a real increase in job creation. Emigration and unemployment, especially for the nearly 50,000 who have been unemployed for over three years, are a waste of both individual and national resources and must be beaten. This is the area we must continue to tackle in 1990 to reap as many of the benefits as we can from the economic revival to lower the number of unemployed, particularly in the long term category.
I thank the Cathaoirleach, the various Deputies and the staff of the House and wish them and my colleagues in Opposition a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
