John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will afford all of the delegates an opportunity to respond. I am conscious that some of the comments made are relevant, specifically as we look at the design of a new programme. The ILDN has welcomed the idea of having a multi-annual programme. We cannot look at what happened in the past four of five years and say we are going to repeat it for the next four or five as we will be looking at a different problem. We had a recession and high unemployment levels, but they have come down. Mr. Bowe referred to the expression "post-recession". We are in a different situation. The problem we are facing is that many people who are long-term unemployed come from geographical and economic areas that would have traditionally had high unemployment rates. They still have high unemployment rates. Some individuals come from a background of intergenerational unemployment. These issues will not be addressed in the same way as they would be for someone who lost a job for a year or so and then retrained, re-skilled and re-entered the labour force. We are looking at a different issue.

One major concern I have relates to the references in the Indecon report to centralising, economies and efficiencies. It needs to be the exact opposite. A more local response is required, not only of the employment service but also in engaging with other providers of services in areas. The people with whom we are dealing are further removed from being employable. The problems are intergenerational and long term. There is work to be done for those of school age today if we are to assist communities that have suffered the effects of long-term unemployment. We need to work that far back into the system, rather than only with the person on the live register.

The presentation made by the ILDN highlights how one of the key advantages stems from being community and locally based. It comes from the connections with others organisations in the local area. That is important and probably not reflected adequately in the Indecon report. That is my view of the report.

We will start with SIPTU. Mr. Coffey should feel free to join in. We will work across the members of the deputation.