Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of the time constraint and will be brief. I thank Dr. Sweeney for a very interesting and thought provoking presentation. It would appear that there is scant evidence of a connection between activation programmes and the drop in unemployment. It is only now, having invested quite a lot of money in the area, that we are evaluating and measuring the effect. Reports in the media today indicate that the Government is contemplating closing down a number of the activation programmes. Tús and another programme - I forget which one - were specifically mentioned. Does Dr. Sweeney think it is appropriate? Have we have arrived at a time when we can actually start to close down some of those programmes? If I have interpreted it correctly, the article stated this is being done as a cost-cutting measure, as we are approaching full employment, even though under-employment rates in Ireland are about double the EU levels. As Dr. Sweeney has rightly said in the concluding paragraph of his presentation, the quality of jobs has deteriorated dramatically. How should we be looking at this? Is it appropriate to close down programmes without having evaluated them properly? If it is appropriate, then should we be looking at reinvesting the savings into the areas Dr. Sweeney has suggested, such as more training for Intreo staff to be more flexible, adaptable etc., more training for better career guidance for people who are unemployed and for investment in programmes to create an incentive and opportunity for people in dead-end jobs to upskill?

Dr. Sweeney spoke of the current service needing to extend beyond currently unemployed people to embrace inactive adults of working age. I take it that Dr. Sweeney does not mean the embrace to mean identifying more people and applying sanctions. Does he believe we could soon be in a position where people could select their own pathway forward, instead of people being presented with a programme or job that is sometimes totally inappropriate for their needs?