Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday, a tender was published to expand local employment services into four new areas. This would have been welcome had the local employment services been extended based on the existing service, which is community based and not for profit. Instead, the tender proposes a new payment-by-results model similar to that found in JobPath. It proposes the end of the community ethos and person-centred approach taken by the local employment services and job clubs and ends the vital walk-in services for those who are sometimes the furthest away from the labour market. Most damaging of all, the tender is a mirror of the "any job will do" approach that puts profit ahead of people. JobPath has not been a success. The figures speak for themselves in that regard. Why is the Government insisting on moving to payment by results and on what is effectively the privatisation of our job activation schemes, which are community based? The local employment services and job clubs have existed for more than 25 years and have served with distinction.

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