Vol. 561 No. 4
108 Ms McManus asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the proposals her Department has to facilitate greater participation by women in the workforce; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4437/03]
One of the main challenges in the area of employment policy has been to increase overall participation in the labour force to maintain competitiveness in what is still a tight labour market. Government policy has responded to this need by encouraging, inter alia, female participation, which has increased from 42% 1997 to 50.1% in 2002.
An important component of the Government's strategy on reconciling work and family life and developing family-friendly policies has been the introduction of legislation such as the Parental Leave Act 1998, the Carer's Leave Act 2001 and the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001. This legislation, combined with increased maternity and adoptive leave entitlements and the development of child care services, will facilitate greater participation by women. The Government is also committed under the national development plan to meeting the diverse needs of parents and children, including key target groups, by supporting the development of accessible, high-quality child care services.
A number of agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are also adopting new initiatives designed to facilitate the increased participation of women in the workforce. The IDA has identified six of its existing business parks for the development of child care services, which will benefit both employers and employees and thereby enhance the attractiveness of the IDA parks to international investors. Gateway for Women is a FÁS initiative tailored to meet individual needs and focuses on addressing the concerns of women returnees, such as flexibility of training and accessibility of services. These measures are complemented by the development of child care services, which are the responsibility of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
The Minister of State said a few weeks ago that at least 27,000 women – out of more than half a million on home duty – were anxious to return to the work force. Yet I notice that Gateway for Women has only about 1,000 places. Ms Gráinne Healy, chair of the National Women's Council of Ireland, noted recently that the availability of child care places is still a major problem for tens of thousands of women who would like to return to work. Is it not the case that the Minister, along with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has refused yet again to address this seriously?
We know from documentation that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Harney, wanted to cut the number of places on the community employment scheme to 15,000, but she was overruled. We also know that FÁS fought for at least 22,000 places. We found this out under the Freedom of Information Act before Christmas.
The Minister is a cruel woman.
Given that women take up most of the places in the scheme—
The Deputy is inaccurate on that point.
That is the reality. It is on the record.
That is the Labour Party record.
It might be on the Deputy's record.
The Minister intended to have the numbers slashed.
Is it true that the Minister has placed a ceiling on numbers for all social economy projects? We must bear in mind that many of these workers are women returning to the work force. Is it true that she and FÁS are even refusing to implement con tracts that have been signed in relation to a work programme?
The Gateway project was launched only recently and a number of places are initially being made available across the country. There is no reason the number cannot be increased substantially as demand grows. The new initiative has had a very positive response to date and the Government is determined to increase the number and availability of work and training places to women returning to the workplace.
It is not correct to say that the Minister or anybody else proposed cuts to 15,000 places or anything like it.
It is on the record.
It was the Labour Party that tried to convey the message that there were to be 13,000 cuts before last Christmas. I know it was suitably disappointed—
The Minister of State was caught. His boss was caught.
That is why the Minister wants to change the freedom of information provisions.
The biggest cut of all has been in unemployment.
The Minister's good days are over.
I know the Labour Party was suitably disappointed at the low level of cuts we agreed to make in CE schemes.
We are still disappointed.
We are concentrating a significant effort on women in regard to the CE schemes and have been quite successful in that respect.
With regard to the social economy scheme, there is no ceiling such as Deputy Broughan suggested. There have been reductions in the scheme due to reductions in the level of expenditure in that general area, but these are being managed by FÁS at the moment and carefully monitored by my Department.
Is it the case that where a hard-working local community body has signed a contract with FÁS to implement a work programme or business plan for a number of years, the Department and FÁS do not now intend to honour the contract because of the Government's cutbacks?
Yes, there are some schemes in which proposals were accepted—
Where contracts were signed?
If the Deputy has a specific case in mind, I can comment on that. There are Dáil questions to be answered over the next few days in which specific cases are dealt with. There have been cutbacks in some schemes and some social economy schemes, which had been initiated and were in the course of planning, will not be going ahead.
