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

It would be useful for the committee if Mr. Egan explained what he envisages post-tender with everything falling in line with the Department's plan as regards the second tender and everything else?

What will employment services look like post-tender? Will it be a case of short-term unemployed people going here and long-term unemployed people going there? Does he acknowledge that the new model being proposed is moving away from a not-for-profit approach?

I asked a question on a job being the only outcome counted. Does the Department count the number of referrals to training and education, community employment and Tús? As Mr. Egan explained, the path to a job is longer for some than for others.

On annual turnover, it seems the figure is not absolutely mandatory. Given that this is news to me and, I assume, most members of the committee, was that made clear to those going to bid in the first place? The Chairman suggested that the external review, which I mentioned earlier, be provided to the committee. The Department can redact pricing and whatever else it may wish to. Is the Department willing to do that?

I referred to the table showing figures for JobPath - I understand what the committee looked for - because JobPath is different in that it regards 13 weeks as a job being sustained. If the Department is saying 24,000 people sustained a job for 12 months or more, given the figure of 376,000 people, or even if we take the 312,000 people who signed a personal progression plan, that indicates a success rate of between 6% and 7%. I assume the total cost of JobPath to the taxpayer is approaching €300 million. I know people remain on JobPath and they will be run off and everything else. However, of the more than 300,000 people referred, at a cost of almost €300 million, the success rate for getting a job that is sustained for more than 12 months, which is not an especially long time in any event, means the rest of the jobs are not being sustained for a year and we are looking at a success rate of 6% to 7%.