Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives of both unions and thank them for their comprehensive assessments and presentations and for their support for the employees in our jobs clubs and local employment services. I am acutely aware of the great work they do. I deal with them on a daily and weekly basis. I am very much aware of the cost model involved and of the problems regarding a payment-by-results model. I deal with that issue as well, unfortunately.

I will concentrate on the meeting with the Department on 17 September. My issue relates to the 25 years of service that others have mentioned and the relationship with local employers, which is critical to this service. In the discussions with the Department, was there any discussion of the social benefit or social contract that may accrue from these services and which may be lost? Have any other countries gone through this and found that the social benefit outweighed any EU directive? That is a very important argument and one that we may have with the Department in the next hour. Will the two unions reply to both of those questions?