Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Some LES staff said to me that they were worried about the tender but that this is worse than they had feared. This is a big mistake. This proposal would erode the community ethos and the not-for-profit model so well fostered by the likes of the LES and job clubs for so many years. I am disappointed about how this has been put forward. The LES and job clubs were led to believe that they would be pleasantly surprised and now they may not even be in a position to tender for what has been put forward, if they would even want to, given what has been put forward for a payment by results model. Can the Minster outline what this tender means for job clubs specifically? There has been a lot of emphasis on the LES but what will this mean for job clubs, both those included in this first tender for those seven areas and those not included, in the new year? I also ask the Minister for details on the second phase of this tender. When is that planned and are things going along on time?

The walk-in issue is hugely concerning given that those furthest away from the job and labour market will not have the access to services they have had up until now.

What are the differences between the model being proposed in this tender and JobPath? I ask the Minister to please look at the results from JobPath. Nearly €300 million was spent and over 280,000 people were referred, some of them two, three or four times. That is now ended, which is welcome. Around 7.9% of those people found jobs that have been sustained for over a year. That is not a success. I ask the Minister to look at that.

For an awful lot of people, the wraparound services and supports provided in LESs and job clubs will not be available in what is being proposed here. That is also a huge loss. For some people it is not just about any job. It is about training, education and other supports they may need, which they will need now more than ever as we emerge from Covid-19. I would appreciate if the Minister could come back to me on those questions. There has been a real lack of engagement on this matter. I met with the job club in Ballaghaderreen last week. It has not been communicated with and the people involved do not know what is happening. That is a mistake and must be corrected. People need to know. Some of them have been running these services for 25 years. They have given it everything and have been treated poorly in all of this.