Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Under the recently announced changes in ministerial responsibility, the employment and community services programmes of FÁS are being transferred to my Department, the community services programme and the rural social scheme are transferring from the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and responsibility for the payment of redundancy and insolvency payments is transferring from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The process of transferring functions from one Department to another is carried out by means of Government orders. Each order needs to be carefully drafted so that all relevant legislation is listed in the Schedule to the order. The Departments which currently hold the functions that are being transferred to my Department are fully engaged in this task at present. The draft orders will need to be finalised and settled in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel before they can be brought to Government.

Once this process has been finalised, the Minister for Finance will bring the necessary orders to Government. At this stage, I cannot give a precise date for the formal transfer of functions as this depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of the legislation governing the particular functions. I assure the Deputy that everyone involved in the process, both in my Department and in the other Departments concerned, is making every effort to complete it at the earliest possible date and I hope that it can be brought to conclusion within a matter of weeks. While the primary responsibility for job creation rests with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, my Department already has a role in supporting people from welfare to work. The national employment action plan is the main activation measure for jobseekers and provides for a systematic engagement of the employment services with unemployed people.

Overall, the transfer of functions being implemented will facilitate the delivery of a more effective and streamlined response to the needs of the unemployed. Bringing together, under the aegis of one Department, the employment services of FÁS, the expertise of its placement officers and the unemployment services of this Department, as well as the community employment schemes, job initiative scheme, community services programme and rural social scheme, will offer significant opportunities to generate synergies, improve efficiency and ultimately improve service delivery to those availing of these services.

The existing level of interaction and co-operation with FÁS and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will facilitate a seamless transfer of functions when the necessary orders are finalised and the restructuring will provide for greater cohesion of activation measures.

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