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

I welcome the witnesses to the meeting and thank them for their attendance. This committee was delighted to be able to facilitate the ILDN and SIPTU, both of which have made excellent, compelling and comprehensive presentations today. I congratulate them on that.

I have a number of general questions. Mr. Coffey mentioned in his submission that SIPTU had a meeting with departmental officials on 20 March, after a number of futile attempts to meet the Minister. What was the outcome of that meeting? Did Mr. Coffey get any sense that the Government has changed its mind about the public procurement issue? That is, in my view, a fiction. Is the Government still holding to its view in that regard? Mr. Coffey said that some people are referred directly for employment while others are referred for further training, education and so on. What is the percentage breakdown in that regard and has it changed with the end of the recession? Has there been a significant change in recent years?

The witnesses do not agree with some of the Indecon recommendations, most notably a reduction in resources because unemployment has fallen and the obligation to engage in public procurement. They argue that the recommendation to reduce resources because employment levels have improved is fatally flawed. The initial purpose of the LES was to assist those people who were the greatest distance from the workplace, in other words, those who were long-term unemployed. That focus obviously changed during the recession when the LES had other categories of people to deal with but now the LES is back to its original purpose. The Indecon report's recommendation is based on the LES as it was at the height of the recession, not as it is now. Indeed, that is reinforced by the fact that Indecon recommends that the LES focus on the long-term unemployed. I fundamentally disagree with that proposal from Indecon, for the reasons stated. While economies of scale have a certain attraction in theory, in the context of changes made to MABS and its sister organisation, the jury is still out. In that sense, I would be very hesitant about getting into economies of scale here.

On the public procurement question, I agree with the witnesses. If we have a system of public procurement along the lines suggested in the Indecon report, which is apparently supported by the Minister, we will completely eliminate the community and voluntary sector. The sector will not be able to participate or compete. I believe that the explanation relating to EU rules is fictional. I agree with the witnesses on that as I read those rules recently and employment services clearly fall within the definition of services of general interest.

It has been suggested that the Government wants to proceed with a latter day, reheated version of JobPath and that this will be the focus for the future. I want the Government to know that Fianna Fáil is strongly opposed to that and will not support it. We have a great habit in this country of fixing things that are not broken. We do not fix a lot of the things that need fixing and we have developed a habit of fixing things that are not broken. The LES and job clubs model is clearly not broken and there is no need to fix it.