Vol. 454 No. 5
4 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the reason he has failed to allocate the £6 million in his budget for local area projects to help the jobless in view of the growing number of long term unemployed. [11050/95]
I presume the Deputy is referring to the £6 million allocated in this year's budget for the establishment of a local employment service. As this is a new service the legal authority for expenditure under the relevant subhead must be obtained from the Dáil before it can be incurred. I expect the formal motion for the approval of my Department's Vote will be put before this House in the near future.
The local employment service is in the process of being set up and will operate initially in the existing 12Programme for Economic and Social Progress area partnerships plus two other areas. Local management committees have been put in place in the 12 area partnerships and they are presently drawing up plans for the establishment of the local employment service in their areas. As the Deputy is aware, the deadline set for the submission of the plans by the task force on long term unemployment is end June 1995. I am currently awaiting receipt of these plans. Until I receive them and have had them evaluated it is not possible to allocate funding. I can assure the Deputy, however, that there will be no undue delay in allocating funds when the plans are agreed.
The Minister will be aware that the percentage number of long term unemployed has grown during the past six months. In that context it is alarming that the Minister, having been allocated £6 million in the budget, has failed to pass on that money to help those who need it most, the long term unemployed. It is unbelievable that five months into the year the Minister has £6 million resting in some repository and that he is awaiting proposals to spend it when it was specifically allocated by the Minister for Finance to assist the long term unemployed.
We will see some of it spent in Wicklow.
The Deputy's attitude to public spending is extraordinary. As stated in the reply, the proposal, as outlined by the task force, was on the basis of strategic plans put forward by the local communities. The deadline set for the submission of those plans was to be the end of June. No such plans have yet been furnished.
Who set that date?
To suggest that I should spend money that has been allocated for careful strategic planning put together by local community groups with the involvement of employers and unions, in advance of those plans, would be reckless in the extreme.
What funds have been allocated for Wicklow?
We are determined to use this money to set up a worthwhile service based on proper plans put forward from a local base.
What about Wicklow?
Deputy O'Keeffe may not intervene at this juncture.
I am sure it was the Minister who set the deadline for the submission of plans by local committees. Was the deadline set by the Minister for Finance or by Europe? The Minister set the date. There is no urgency or compelling force about the Minister in regard to employment. He should have told the local committees they had one month in which to submit their proposals as he wished to give the money, where it was required, to aid the jobless. Is it not a shame, considering that the Minister said his priority was to tackle long term unemployment that the number has increased considerably during the past six months?
The Deputy is inaccurate in saying that the number of long term unemployed has increased since I became Minister for Enterprise and Employment.
It has.
The Deputy is changing——
The percentage of long term unemployed has grown.
Questions have been asked, let us listen to the Minister's reply.
The target set by the task force which recommended this service was that the plans should be made available by the end of June. That was based on their most realistic assessment of how properly structured plans could be formulated and produced by the community. We will not try to set phoney deadlines which will not be met. We want to see well thought out plans put together so that the money made available will be used, strategically, for the benefit of the long term unemployed. This is an important part of Government policy. We are determined to do things right. I am glad the Deputy supports this initiative.
The percentage of long term unemployed has grown under the tutelage of the Minister and his two colleagues.
That is not what the Deputy said.
The Minister is hiding behind task forces, committees, consultation, private and public groups, interim and full statements and never seems to take a decision. That is extraordinary behaviour.
The time available for dealing with priority questions is exhausted. I am proceeding to take the reply to Question No. 5 in ordinary time having regard to the recent changes in our procedures.
