Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like most Members, I welcomed the announcement last December of the new Momentum programme, which will provide 6,500 new education and training places for jobseekers. These places are correctly and specifically targeted at the long-term unemployed. Projects will be in the expanding employment areas of ICT, digital media, health care and social services, the green economy, food processing and sales and marketing. Moreover, I am pleased that a substantial number of these opportunities will be provided in my constituency of Louth. Importantly, these programmes are designed to match the needs of employers and provide those who have been out of work for a long time with a golden opportunity to optimise their chances of getting back into the workplace. As the Minister of State is aware, applicants must have been signing on for 12 months or longer and to be seeking employment actively. I have examined the eligibility criteria laid down by the Department because I recently was made aware of a case in which a man, whose mother passed away recently, was told he was ineligible to apply for a place on the Momentum programme because he had only been signing on for six months. Prior to that, he has spent two years acting as a carer to his mother and was recognised by the State by way of a carer's payment.

To date, all other labour activation schemes have allowed applicants to count time spent as a carer in lieu of time signing on in respect of the consideration for training. The Momentum programme is the first to break with this precedent. This appears to have been a policy decision taken within the Department that creates a highly dangerous and divisive principle. While there is much discussion and debate on the significant State support provided for carers, people do not appear to be overly concerned about what happens to carers when they are about to get back to the workforce when their caring duties come to an end, often in sad circumstances. No State jobs or training programme should be allowed to discriminate against a citizen who, through his or her family obligations and love for his or her family members, was obliged to take time out of the workforce to care for an unwell relative. It appears to be inherently unfair that someone should be penalised for leaving the workforce to care for a loved one and then be forced to sit on the live register for 12 months before being allowed access to the Momentum programme. I am anxious to establish whether the Minister for Social Protection will take steps to reverse this divisive and arguably discriminatory policy decision and bring the Momentum programme into line with other labour market activation schemes, which allow time spent in receipt of carer's allowance to count in respect of access to the suite of labour market activation and training measures provided by the Government.

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