Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government's position on the recent motion debated in the House on the JobPath service was clearly set out in my contribution and that of others at the time. I note the views of the House on the matter. However, the position of the Government remains unchanged. My Department has entered into legally binding agreements with the JobPath providers and the Government will honour these contractual commitments.

I will reiterate again that the JobPath service performance recorded and published by the Department exceeds contracted target levels and that creditable large-scale customer research, also published by the Department, shows very high levels of customer satisfaction and very low levels of complaints.

The Department also operates a robust inspection and compliance system and a detailed report from the Comptroller and Auditor General made no recommendations regarding how the service is governed. The Department will shortly publish the results of an econometric evaluation of the service which will further indicate that the outcomes for participating jobseekers, both in terms of employment and earnings, are better than those of non-participants. Compared to this body of evidence I note the criticisms of the service are based on anecdotal or very small scale research which would not be considered as reliable evidence in any serious evaluation of the service.

During that particular debate and prior to it I asked Deputies to forward me examples of cases that they believed substantiated the criticisms of the service. Since the debate on the Private Members' motion, I was provided with just two examples of people who expressed dissatisfaction with the service. The case is being reviewed but the nature of the complaint does not differ greatly from representations which are occasionally received in respect of other activation services, including the Department's Intreo service, our CV clubs, local employment services, job clubs etc.   It is certainly not suggestive of any widespread or systemic issues with the service over and above what would be expected in a service that has now served in excess of 200,000 Irish citizens.

Therefore, I am satisfied that the proper course of action is to continue with the service in order to support our long-term unemployed jobseekers. Thankfully, the number of long-term jobseekers are dropping, as reported by the Central Statistics Office today.

See this speech in context