Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Kerrane has set out the implications of the proposed tendering of local employment schemes. I commend her on bringing forward this motion. Rather than dealing with the situation State-wide, I will point the Minister to a service she knows very well, the Monaghan local employment service. This service has been in operation since 1998. It has secured the esteem and goodwill of the wider community. More important, by any matrix or standard, it has proven to be effective when compared to operations such as JobBridge and JobPath, about which you hear terms like "disconnected" and "out of touch" used. You never hear such terms in respect of the Monaghan local employment service because it works. It is a good service. Rather than putting it under threat, we should be expanding the local employment service in our county. I am asking the Minister not just to support the Sinn Féin proposal today, but to actually implement it to ensure that services such as the Monaghan local employment service are driven by a not-for-profit community-led ethos so that they can actually secure jobs for those who need them, where and when they need them. We have a model that has been proven to work time and time again. It has operated under the auspices of Monaghan Integrated Development, which is probably one of the best integrated development companies in the State. It works and I ask the Minister to ensure it continues to work. She should implement the motion put forward today and end the practice of introducing for-profit elements to our unemployment services.

See this speech in context