John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Regarding referrals to LES before JobPath was established, there were over 67,000 in 2014. In 2017, that number reduced to just below 18,500. That contradicts evidence Mr. McKeon gave in his opening statement that there has been no impact whatsoever on LES since the formation of JobPath. The figures show clearly that there has been an impact. I will give Mr. McKeon an opportunity shortly to answer that point.

While I am dealing with the LES, there was a constant thread throughout the statements that both providers - Seetec and Turas Nua - had exceeded the performance targets that had been laid down. For the record, will Mr. McKeon state what were those targets? Was it 14%? What is the performance target for LES?

I will talk about the local employment services first. I said in my opening statement that we have not reduced the number of employment mediators we pay for in the local employment services. We have not reduced our payments to the local employment service. I was very specific and clear that we have reduced the number of clients referred to local employment services. This is good because, prior to JobPath, we had local employment services that were operating with caseloads of 500 jobseekers to one mediator and, in some cases, over 1,000 jobseekers to one mediator. That is not a sustainable caseload. Internationally, when the caseload exceeds 200:1, people raise their eyebrows. I had to sit in rooms with representatives from the OECD, European Commission, troika and other bodies and I was challenged very strongly on why we operate with such extraordinarily high caseloads. I was told we had to get the ratio to under 200:1. For long-time unemployed jobseekers, the target and upper limit is generally agreed as being 120:1. In Germany, they operate with a ratio of 60:1. In the Netherlands, the ratio is 80:1. We are currently operating with a ratio of 120:1. We do it through the local employment services and JobPath. We would not have been able to reduce the caseloads in the local employment services if the capacity for JobPath was not available. Therefore, there has been an impact but in a good way.