Dr. Tom Boland:

The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach really put his finger on what matters, which is about the spirit of the thing. The community welfare officer is there and will always help out. If we are having this discussion about activation, it is a matter of how it is done. As the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach said, some people really appreciate the support. The memorandum from 2011 had conditionality, whereby there was activation and a threat was brought in. In 2016, we brought in JobPath, which was administered by private providers. Some of these were given 30% targets. When a provider is given a target such as this with the best will in the world, whoever that provider is, there will be pressure. A study has been done by Michael McGann comparing local employment services and JobPath providers.

He pointed out that the level of professionalism, commitment to the job, know-how and education of the people working in there was substantially different from those hired swiftly by Seetec and Turas Nua in 2001. Many people got a very different service overall. There is the spirit, but it also matters how we set up how to do it.

Additionally, we have Springboard and a whole array of courses in this regard. A recent ESRI study on the back to education measure found it was less beneficial than people would have hoped, expected or modelled for in the short term. In the long term, however, it is certainly better. We have a whole conversation under way, led by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Simon Harris, around trades and skills, finding alternative forms of employment and achieving more integration between social protection, education and training. These things should be an integrated system and we need a whole-of-government approach to employment not just in times of crisis but at all times. More can definitely be done in this regard. The third level colleges should be providing further education for people working within the system. I refer to continuous professional development, CPD, and other such courses. As much training is needed to work behind the screen in the social welfare office as is needed to be a social worker, or something close to that.