Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy might tell Deputy O'Brien that we said as much. I welcome the Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009. Deputy Brady referenced the AnCO days and although I am even older, I can remember those days. I remember standing beside Gene Fitzgerald, a good man from Cork who was then Minister for Labour, when he opened the old AnCO centre in Cookstown industrial estate. The refurbishment and redevelopment of that centre in recent times got some headlines.

It is good that people who are unemployed and seeking training or other help at any time, and particularly in a recession, are able to do so in first-class facilities where they can be comfortable about what they are doing. I was glad to hear other colleagues make the point about the importance of the service locally. I heard such comments in recent Private Members' motions. There are difficulties, which this Bill addresses, and there has been much recent controversy surrounding FÁS. However, we are also entitled to be positive about what FÁS has done in all our communities throughout the country.

To be parochial for a moment, I went to the opening of the new St. Dominic's community centre in Tallaght. Those of us who attended it were deeply impressed by what we saw and it was good to hear community representatives pay warm tribute, in these difficult times, to the efforts of FÁS and its local personnel. It is important to do so.

Like everybody else, I live in a community which has been affected by the recession. Tallaght is the third-largest population centre in the country and we have seen significant increases recently in unemployment, with over 10,000 people now unemployed. It is very important for us to make the case, in discussing this Bill, that FÁS resources must continue to respond to the needs of the people. People are finding themselves unemployed often for the first time. There is a new poor and people who were always in good jobs and able to find employment are now being suddenly challenged. I do not wish to be smart about it but I bring to my politics my own experience in being made redundant three times. I know what it is like, although I do not mean this in a flippant or virtuous way. It is important for us to support people.

There are many reasons for the public to be angry about what happened in FÁS but those of us representing communities where there are issues and where we use FÁS are entitled to say that an unemployed person needs a course, in their own community as far as possible, regardless of whatever else is going on. Not a week goes by in my Tallaght office when representations are not made to FÁS management asking for constituents to be looked after. I hope that will continue to be the case.

I hope the management of FÁS will consider this debate and build on its previous efforts, improving as it goes along. For the first time in ten years there are serious employment problems in our communities, and my community is no different in that regard. Many well-educated young people are emerging from schools but cannot access employment immediately. FÁS clearly has a role to play in that regard.

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