Ms Bríd O'Brien:

For all the employers who could come forward and say they cannot get employees, I think we could all come forward with people who say that the employers will not employ them. It is a two-way street. It can be a variety of things. It can be that perhaps people are not sure the employment will last. For example, if they move off a welfare payment into employment, what will happen if the employment does not work out? One of the things that might help with that issue is reassurance from the Department that if things do not work out, the person can revert easily. For some people, their only source of income may be their welfare payment and they know what it is, but if the job on offer is on an hourly basis, they might not know what their income will be from week to week. If these people live in a household where it is the second or third income coming in, they can probably take that risk. However, if they are the only person in that household or the primary income in that household, people are sometimes fearful that if they take the job and it does not work out or they do not get the hours they are expecting, they will not have the income, so where will they be then?

That can sometimes be the range of challenges facing people. There is a payment called the payment pending wages. It used to be on the Department's website. We tell everybody about it because it is really important, especially if somebody is going from a welfare payment that is inadequate to a wage that might be adequate if they knew what it was going to be for certain. However, if they are going from a weekly payment and the wages are every two weeks or monthly there can be a gap. That can be an important reassurance for people that if they take that step they will not be left high and dry for a week. We see that as a small investment by the State. It might help that person make that move and then the hope is the State might not see them back again until they are looking for their pension. We feel that could make a difference. Likewise, we could reassure people who are in receipt of a medical card that if they have been long-term unemployed and take up work, they can hold onto the card for up to three years. Again, that message does not get out there to the extent it does-----