Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

When a redundancy takes place or a closure occurs, FÁS has a structured response which involves going into the company concerned and conducting a dialogue with the employer, seeking to profile the collective employee group and inviting employees to engage with FÁS. Not every employee does this. The feedback from the intervention by FÁS in a number of cases in the past year and a half has been positive. The number of people who do not engage present a problem as this may not be picked up. Those who engage with FÁS remain engaged until they get something. That is a part of the FÁS service which has become increasingly more important and more effective.

FÁS also liaises with Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland as the two services offered are the provision of training and reorientation programmes and the creation or sourcing of new job opportunities in a given locality for the individuals involved. It is very much a three-pronged approach by the three agencies; to get in on the ground in a particular company, assess the profile of the staff, see what is required, offer courses and programmes and to enable the staff to take up training for other jobs. That approach is being taken and will continue to be taken.

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