Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Pathways to Work 2013: Discussion with Department of Social Protection

2:25 pm

Ms Anne Vaughan:

I will see what the story is and then I will get back to the Deputy.

In response to the question on the database, the short answer is "Yes," but the system is clunky. If one allows for the fact that three organisations came together with their own databases and their own ICT systems, one can see it is not seamless. In terms of providing a service to local employers, Mr. McKeon referred to job fairs and Mr. Connolly is running these out in Dublin north. I am sure there is something similar in the Deputy's own area. We are mining the systems and we are working with employers. We are working with large employers and local employers to find the people with the skill sets that are required. It is a work in progress, as is much of the work on transformation to better, more streamlined services.

From the point of view of whether an employer can get what he or she is looking for, the short answer is "Yes." It might take us time, but if an employer is looking for a particular type for interview, we would be able to do that for him or her.