Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on my colleague Deputy Kerrane's motion to protect local employment services and the not-for-profit and community-based ethos of existing local employment services.

The proposed model set out in the Government's recent tender process is not the person-centred approach that was successfully fostered by the local employment services and job clubs. The proposed changes will result only in a process of commercialisation which will leave those who most need the services behind. The Government parties' continuous attempts to commercialise those seeking employment are both out of touch and utterly bizarre. The Government puts profit margins above the needs of the people the service was designed to support. From speaking to those involved in day-to-day operations, I am aware that the Government's approach results in people being pushed into unsuitable, short-term positions to tick a box or move them from one column to another.

The Government's tendering process risks pricing the local employment services and job clubs out of the process entirely. That would be a tremendous loss to the public. The community approach, the walk-in option available through local employment services and job clubs, meets the needs of the community in a way that profit-focused models never can. It appears to even the most casual observers that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in particular, are enamoured with a profit-driven business model for everything from healthcare to homelessness. It is no surprise, therefore, to see its tentacles spread into the provision of employment supports. What is not clear, however, and what has never been adequately explained is why the Government is insisting on removing local employment services and job clubs from the picture to promote a privatised model of service provision that has no proven record of success.

Having listened to the Minister's speech this evening, it has become incredibly clear to me that she is determined to try to fix a system that is not broken but is crying out for genuine supports to reach its full potential.

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