Mr. Joe Saunders:

I thank members and welcome the reading, research and thought they put into the report and the issues before us today. The first thing that comes out of multiple comments is members' concern about whether the findings of the Indecon report necessarily lead on to the recommendations, particularly the one to consider a privatised model. Our reflection on that is very clear. It is a non sequitur. The proposal to move automatically to consideration of competitive procurement does not arise from the evidential findings in the report.

I want to address a number of societal challenges that members have raised, such as climate change, Brexit, factory closures or automation. These things are coming down the line. The LES and job clubs model has worked especially well because it is not just a job-first model. It works with people in employment so those people in precarious employment or bogus self-employment or those whose jobs are at risk are part of the client base. In that regard, every local development company has a link with its local third level college and education and training board, and ILDN is linked in to several colleges in the institute of technology and university framework. We are very concerned about the societal changes that are coming down the line and the need for reskilling as opposed to just a job-first approach.

Regarding that job-first approach, we have the Indecon findings but we also have a research arm of the State, namely, the ESRI. I want to quote from its proposal from January 2019 for research for pre-employment supports. It says that as employment increases, those who remain unemployed are likely to experience multiple barriers to labour market participation, meaning that employment is far from an immediate and realistic prospect for many of them. It goes on to say that for these groups, job creation alone is not sufficient in ensuring full employment. That reflects the concerns of many members about how we conceive the issue.

In that regard, local development companies stand ready to offer national coverage to the new cohorts who need to be brought in and who, as citizens, deserve a national employment service.