Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I accept Mr. Donohue's comments. On the community employment programme, when we consider what it is measured against, there are two elements. There is a need to redefine what is meant by community employment. My experience of it is that those involved with the programme are finding it difficult to recruit because there are other opportunities available. As the services provided by those involved in community employment schemes in urban and rural areas are starting to decrease, we need to redefine the programme.

I echo Mr. Donohue's comment. People should go to JobPath offices to see the work being done. It is very easy to take an take a position in opposition. One of the key points about the JobPath programme is that it supports people in work. We need to focus on this because we do not measure the outcome in terms of whether a person found a job and then fell back into unemployment very quickly. We need to support people. For individuals who have been unemployed for three to four years, it is a totally different experience. It is sometimes very difficult for them to deal with the experience, particularly the personal interactions involved. One needs to make a telephone call and ask them if they are having a problem and tell them how they should deal with it. Those who have been long-term unemployed must be supported on their return to employment. That forms part of the JobPath programme.

The Intreo service has been totally transformed over five years, but the focus must be maintained. Just because the numbers are changing does not mean that we should stop considering the additional services Intreo offices could provide and how they could target suitable educational opportunities and so on.

We must also examine the position for people with disabilities. There is a new cohort who are not in receipt of benefits but who want to take up employment. They fall into the group Ms O'Brien mentioned of those aged 40 years and over who, perhaps due to their partner being in full-time employment, have been left sitting at home. There is no support available to help them to return to employment.

The JobBridge scheme was of its time, as were Tús and Gateway. We should constantly re-evaluate initiatives and make changes. If we assess reasonably the impact of JobBridge - there is a report available on it - and take an unbiased approach to it, a fairly good job has been done. Everybody will not be an IT expert or enter the banking sector. There was, especially in my community, assistance available to help people who might not have worked for a long time to find a job in a deli. When the JobBridge scheme was being set up, there was a tendency to go for the easy option to support those interested in becoming involved in the IT sector, including computer-aided design, CAD, and all such professional areas, to give them experience, but not to give early school-leavers experience in the employment market. That is when all of the parliamentary questions came into play. It is a much more difficult issue with which to deal.

Just because the numbers are improving does not mean that our focus should move from long-term unemployment. One of the delegates did not want to label an area, but in an area in which I was very much involved, at a time when we were talking about reaching full employment, we conducted a survey and found that there was an unemployment rate of more than 50%. There is a need for a cultural change within geographical areas. A few weeks ago I met a number of people who told me that there was peer pressure not to take up employment. That is something we need to break down.

Many things are happening beneath the surface. We need to adjust in this regard and take account of people's experience.

A scheme may be set up and may be running, but it has a period or lifetime during which it is useful and targeted. We should be constantly reassessing, improving and introducing what is needed. One area that needs to be targeted is the intergenerational area, whether geographic or family-based. Mr. Donohoe and I referred to it earlier. In any event, I see a growing discrimination against people in their late 40s. Many of those people lost their jobs during the recession. They have been unemployed for five or six years, but they have handsome CVs. A person might take the view that he does not want another person sitting on his shoulder. That can happen and we need to undertake the relevant analysis to find out what is stopping people in their 40s. They have ten, 15 or 20 years more to contribute to society and ten more years to grow. We need to support the long-term unemployed when they go to work. That is true in working with the likes of IBEC, employers and JobPath and Intreo. That is vital work and it needs to be done.