Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials again. I am not trying to start a philosophical debate to doubt what they are saying. It is important that we look at these assumptions. I have a question about equality monitoring. At the moment, we have a public duty when it comes to equality and human rights. What mechanisms are being put in place across the Department to look at the equality of outcomes for different cohorts? I refer, for example, to equality of employment outcomes for women compared to men, or to equality for Travellers, etc. I understand there are some mechanisms in place. I would like to get a sense of how they are being monitored. There should be a focus not just on the numbers entering employment but also on the quality of outcome that is there. I should also say while I am commenting on the question of quality of outcome that I welcome strand 3, which deals with the question of making work pay and incentivising work within the plan as it goes forward. I wonder whether an additional ambition is needed with regard to in-work poverty. Maybe it is under way.

We are talking about measures designed to alleviate in-work poverty and a number of in-work supports have been developed. I refer to the Department's leverage in pressing for decent pay for decent work, as it has significant leverage and is engaging heavily with employers. It is offering a number of employment and employer incentive schemes, for example, through JobsPlus. What leverage might it be able to use in that regard? I note the programme for Government commits the Government to address, through the Low Pay Commission, the issue of in-work poverty. How is the Department actively engaging with the other half of that equation?

There is the question of choice. We did not get an answer in terms of those schemes where there is constrained choice, such as Gateway and JobPath. What is the route for an individual who is given a limited set of options to get engaged again with the system to look at a wider range of options? Is the Department considering a waiver of the full-time availability or strengthening voluntary engagement with respect to qualified adults rather than moving them towards the live register model? How can we engage with that?