Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I wanted to raise some issues in my local area and bring them into the debate. In my constituency of Dublin Mid-West, there is a very significant unemployment problem. The Clondalkin social welfare office covers Clondalkin and Lucan. In the 12 months to 30 April 2008, the number of people on the live register at that office rose from 3,522 to 4,442, which is a 26% increase. Of that number, 1,193 or 27% are under 25. This compares to 21% unemployment for those under 25 in the State as a whole. The percentage of unemployed under 25 for the Dublin region is also 21%, which suggests that young people and school leavers in my constituency are finding it even more difficult to get jobs than their counterparts in other areas. In one particular electoral district in Clondalkin, 14% of young males are unemployed. In many parts of Clondalkin, unemployment is at 11%, which is over twice the national average.

In Clondalkin, Tallaght and other parts of the country, unemployment figures have been rising for the past couple of years. There is a need for targeted intervention by the Government to address areas of high unemployment, including Clondalkin. South Dublin County Council recently passed a motion on the increase in the live register in Clondalkin and wrote to FÁS about the issue. Officials from FÁS wrote back with a few examples of specific measures taken by the body. A reference was made to local community training and employment programmes where a specific gap is identified. They mainly referred to steps to make new members of the live register aware of training and interview skill courses. Given the bad situation in local authority estates in north and south-west Clondalkin, that is just not good enough.

We need a new commitment to innovative training and to education programmes that are aimed at unemployed people in specific areas. We need to use the physical accommodation available in some second level schools in the Clondalkin area and in Tallaght. We need to use the expertise that is available in the institutes of technology, such as ITT, as well as the co-operation of employers to deliver focused, high-quality training and support to people who have lost jobs. There have been examples of this in the institute of technology, and I know that because my father worked there. ITT ran a programme with Hewlett Packard where unemployed people were trained for jobs at the company. It was very successful as many of those people were long-term unemployed.

The Government needs a targeted approach. It needs to be more innovative and more proactive, as do agencies like FÁS. Unfortunately, the Government has adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards unemployment. It is not good enough for people who lose their jobs to be told by FÁS to look up websites and be given a few leaflets. We must do much more, getting agencies involved and using colleges and second level schools to upskill people. I call for the implementation of the recommendations of the task force on lifelong learning. We must introduce incentives for people to study part time.

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