Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
1083. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the details of the company that has secured the bid for the new private job activation service replacing JobPath; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42421/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has recently undertaken the procurement of a number of employment services as the contracts of existing services were lapsing. Competitive procurements for these services are required under EU law.
As part of this process, employment services have been reconfigured to provide the most appropriate service to the jobseekers at the most appropriate time. No existing employment service has been directly replaced and no services were reserved for either the community and voluntary sector or for-profit enterprises.
All procurement competitions for employment services were open to tenders from every type of enterprise, including the community and voluntary sector. I'm pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department received a broad response to the request for tenders published, ensuring a high level of quality among the new service providers throughout the State.
The new employment services have been designated as Intreo Partners, emphasising their role in complementing the activities of Intreo Offices in helping clients return to the labour market.
Twenty-three Intreo Partners are already either already engaging with long-term unemployed clients or will shortly be doing so. In addition, over twenty sub-contractors are also playing a key role in providing these services. There are two main streams in the Intreo Partners services provided via the Local Area Employment Service and via the National Employment Service. The preferred bidders for the LAES are a mixture of locally based providers from the community sector and the preferred bidders for the NES are Seetec and Turas Nua.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
