Vol. 407 No. 5
3 Mr. Ryan asked the Minister for Labour the action he has taken to help reduce the barriers to women's access to and participation in employment, particularly through measures aimed at reconciling working life and family responsibilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
10 Mr. Kavanagh asked the Minister for Labour the financial incentives which he will put in place to encourage the establishment of workplace crèches; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
30 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Labour if he has yet received a full report or an interim report from the task force on child care services; if it is intended to expand the membership of the task force; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 3, 10 and 30 together. Last year I established a task force on child care services for working parents to advise me on the potential for early practical action to develop a number of prototypes of child care services appropriate to Irish conditions. The task force are also to identify measures other than child care services which can be pursued by employers and workers to help workers combine family responsibilities and career.
The task force submitted an interim report to me some time ago recommending that their membership should be extended to include a representative each from the Federation of Irish Employers and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. This has been done and I expect a final report shortly.
Deputies will no doubt be aware of the important advance made in respect of the public service on this matter under the Programme for National Recovery. It has been agreed that child care facilities will be provided on the basis of the State providing the physical space and staff paying the running costs. Under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress it has been agreed that the Government will continue to encourage the provision on a progressive basis, of child care services for workers in the public service.
I believe that the Government's role in relation to child care services in the private sector is to stimulate the development of such services by employers individually and collectively including partnerships between public authorities and employers, and by private sector organisations rather than actually to provide the services. I expert the task force to make recommendations in this area.
I also believe that the questions of provision of child care facilities by employers and flexible working arrangements, career breaks and other such schemes are appropriate matters for negotiation between the social partners.
For my part I have emphasised to FÁS the importance of training programmes to facilitate entry and reintegration of women into the labour market and I have focused more and more in recent times on training in the new technologies and the non-traditional areas, in this way reducing the barriers to women's access to the labour market.
I am hopeful that some financial assistance may become available from the Community very soon for the provision of child care facilities which operate in conjunction with the provision of training for women and the creation of small businesses and co-operatives by women.
I welcome the Minister's reply and I hope some of the recommendations can be implemented at an early date. Will the Minister accept that a major change of attitude is required on the part of employers in this area? Is he aware of the grave difficulties which arise for many women in regard to prospective employers, and indeed the Department of Social Welfare, because they are asked at interviews how many children they have and who will mind them if they are successful in getting a job? Will the Minister also accept that those questions would not be asked of a man applying for the same job or, indeed, for social welfare benefits? What will the Minister do to try to change that attitude?
I have spoken many times on the need for a change in attitudes. However, in the last 12 months the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Federation of Irish Employers have issued positive action programmes and have been endeavouring to promote such a concept with employers. We debated this matter last year in the House but there was very little action by the organisations. A number of companies are now establishing crèches in the workplace and have brought in more flexible arrangements for career breaks. However, I admit that a minority of companies are involved and I agree with the Deputy that much more needs to be done. I should also like to refer to the European schemes under which there is an opportunity to get funding, particularly in relation to people who wish to get back into the workplace. If they are training there is provision for funding, which will dramatically help them. The FÁS back to work schemes for women have been highly successful and the same applies to the participation of women in training programmes. There has been a dramatic increase in participation by women over the last five years.
Deputy Ryan asked the Minister what action he had taken. Has the Minister taken any action to request FÁS, the successor to AnCO, to re-establish the crèche they introduced for their employees in the Department of Labour which, unfortunately, was the victim of the hatchet from a former member of the Progressive Democrats?
Deputies will be glad to hear that we intend to put crèches in all training centres——
And in the Dáil?
I agree with the service which that organisation provided and I kept it going as long as I could. However, in the end the courts prevented me from keeping it in existence.
In relation to the establishment of crèches in the workplace, will the Minister say what success he has had in relation to other Government Departments? We should set a good example in this regard. There is a large staff in Leinster House, including a high percentage of married women. Perhaps the best example the Minister could give is to establish a crèche in the building since it is his responsibility to provide the space. The same applies to semi-State bodies and local authorities and if this was done perhaps it would give the lead to the private sector since they always follow the public sector in these matters. What progress has been made?
I mentioned our Department but I cannot speak for the House as that is a matter for the Ceann Comhairle although I am sure he would be very open to the idea of providing a crèche in the House.
Has the Minister raised the matter?
I have not raised it in the House, but I have raised it with my colleagues in Government Departments. The agreement is that space will be provided by the Departments and the cost of running them by the staff. There are at least three areas I know of where negotiations are actually going on. The staff in most Departments have an interest. I think within the next few years we will find them in most Departments. I will raise it with the Ceann Comhairle.
(Limerick East): The Ministers spoke with approval about the women's back to work schemes sponsored by FÁS. I agree with him that they are very successful indeed from the level of participation and the reports on how interesting they are. I wonder if the Minister got any information in his brief about what percentage of women who take these courses are actually placed subsequently in permanent employment and how many go on the live register rather than into permanent employment?
I do not have the figures. I particularly spoke about the back to work course, not the others. The ordinary training scheme is not that brilliant but the one designed for going back to work is extremely good. Normally the people who take that course are women who have worked for a great number of years, are married and have reared a family or are in the process of rearing a family and come back. One could argue that they would have the qualifications but the figures on that are remarkably high and the demand to go on that course is remarkably high: it is not as high as the normal training courses.
In respect of Question No. 30 which the Minister has encompassed in his reply, he did not make any reference to whether it is intended to expand the membership of the task force. I am not sure how many people comprise the task force as it stands. Arising from the Minister's remark about the success of the back to work schemes for women, is he aware that a number of those schemes collapsed some four or five months ago, one to my certain knowledge because the instructors who were temporary employees were disemployed. As a result of that one group of women, 14 people, had done half the course and some five or six months later there has been no attempt to get them together to complete the course.
I did refer to the membership. We have now extended the committee to cover both employers and the Congress of Trade Unions. On the second part of the Deputy's question, I recall two cases where that happened and in those two cases the people were moved to another centre. I would be certainly glad to have the details of the case to which Deputy Rabbitte referred.
I will supply the Minister with the details.
With regard to workplace crèches, can the Minister say if in the £17 million refurbishment of the Taoiseach's Department any of that money was spent on the provision of a crèche for that building?
I am not aware of that.
Given the necessity to provide crèche facilities in our FÁS centres, can the Minister confirm here this afternoon that the necessary finance is in the Estimate this year for the provision of same and that they will be provided at all the FÁS centres this year?
I do not know. It is always the case when we make progressive moves people want it done yesterday. It will be done; I cannot say if it will all be completed by the end of the year. We have already opened some of them and the intention is, over a period, to have a crèche in every centre as quickly as possible.
