Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak for the Labour Party on this motion, which we will be supporting. I thank my colleagues — including Deputies Howlin and Sherlock, councillors Níall McNelis and John Maher and others in the party — who have contacted me to express their concern over the tendering process proposed by the Department and to express their support for this motion, which I am glad to support. I have received other representations from individuals in local employment services and those affected in Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Galway and other locations right around the country, including my area, Dublin Bay South.

I spoke this afternoon to SIPTU's public administration and community division organiser, Mr. Adrian Kane. I am grateful to officials in Fórsa, whom I am aware have also been working on this matter. I know from engagement with SIPTU, Fórsa and others that we will see SIPTU members in local employment services in County Offaly, including Tullamore, and in Portarlington, County Laois, engaging in industrial action next week owing to a dispute resulting from the Government's termination of its contract with the local community sector companies that employ them. I am aware of the great concern of so many over the prospect of redundancy as a result of the tendering process. I ask the Minister to engage with the unions to ensure redundancies do not occur as a result of the decision.

I am aware that the Minister has spoken about engagement but further, meaningful engagement is clearly necessary. The call from SIPTU is for the Minister to instruct her officials in the Department of Social Protection to put concrete proposals on the table to deal with the job losses in the sector that have already resulted from round one of the tendering process and to halt it or pause it, as the motion requires, before it moves on to round two. All of us will be cognisant that it is a stark situation for local employment staff to be in. They fear they will lose their jobs. Many of them have worked for many years in a system in which they have built up institutional knowledge and know-how on behalf of the State in assisting those who are out of work. There are now fearful that they themselves will lose their jobs. They provide many services in assisting people's transition to full-time employment or additional training. In many cases, these are simply not quantifiable in monetary terms. We are anxious that the baby not be thrown out with the bathwater owing to the change in process.

What many of those in the sector genuinely feel is that the net effect of the creation of the new service and process will be that a set of metrics will be put in place that will specify impractical and unrealistic targets and milestones. There is genuine concern that the new tendering processes will lead to the wholesale privatisation of local employment services and effectively force out community-based, non-profit providers. While I accept that the Minister says that is not the intention, there is clear and genuine concern that this would be the effect of the process. Although we are still working through the devastating Covid pandemic, we are all conscious that these sorts of community-based, not-for-profit services are needed, now more than ever, in local areas. That is why I stress again the need for meaningful engagement with representatives of staff, service providers and service users. We want to ensure the services provided are not monetised in a way that results in job losses and takes the heart out of them. What is unique about the current circumstances is that both employers and trade unions are effectively united on this issue. That does not happen often.

Let me refer to the multiple local employment services that carry out vital work in my area, Dublin Bay South, particularly at St. Andrew's Resource Centre, Pearse Street, which I have visited many times. The service at St. Andrew's, Eastside & Docklands Local Employment Service, is a joint enterprise of St. Andrew's Resource Centre and the Inner City Renewal Group, Dublin 1. My colleague Senator Marie Sherlock commended this service in the Seanad when addressing the Taoiseach last week.

It is really worth mentioning some of the work done through the St. Andrew's centre. Staff there told me they spotted significant demand some years ago for construction skills. We are all aware of shortages in that sector. The service started a construction-skills programme that takes in 20 men every week, many of whom are from backgrounds of severe disadvantage, in some cases involving prison terms or addiction issues. The individuals can start work on a construction site after the intensive training provided on the course. They start work in a skilled job that pays well and that will see an increase in income as time goes on. This is transformative in the lives of the individuals concerned, but the intrinsic value of such a transformative service often cannot be measured in the monetary terms or by the metrics that may be prescribed as a result of the new process.

The service I have mentioned is just one that I am familiar with in my area. I am conscious that there are services in Crumlin, Dolphin's Barn and the Liberties. Among the many individuals who have contacted me — and, I am sure, others — is Ms Una Lowry, the CEO of the Dublin South City Partnership, Dublin 12. She has expressed her concerns and those of her organisation regarding the new models being rolled out. She has said they are being rolled out without establishing any forum that would research and scope out the best model of employment services for those outside the labour market and without seeking sufficient engagement with a stakeholder forum to build a robust new model. When we examine the kinds of models that exist, including the partnership in Dublin 12 and the service at St. Andrew's, Pearse Street, we see genuine engagement with local communities and businesses.

To give credit to Dublin Port, it has given St. Andrew's Resource Centre a site from which to operate its construction skills programme free of charge. We see real engagement at a local level on the ground because these services are community-based and, therefore, have access to funding for a variety of activities that might not be available to privately run or commercial providers. That is the crucial transformative programme that is functioning so well under the current model.

There are, therefore, real concerns that the changes will lead to a deterioration in levels of engagement, community involvement and community benefit. The Minister referred to the ILDN. It is seeking meaningful engagement on the advice secured from third parties on procurement, the financial model, the impact of citizens and the sourcing of funding for redundancies if they arise. The network has reiterated concerns that the model proposed is an unsuitable for-profit model that has not been proven to work anywhere in the world, particularly for those who are distant from the labour market and who will need additional supports to become employed or to enter the labour market again. The ILDN is concerned that the model is not evidence-based, has not been tested or piloted and has not received endorsement from academic researchers. It is also concerned that it will transfer risks from the funder to the contract holder, thereby jeopardising not-for-profit community organisations not just at bid stage but also in implementation as there is considerable risk of operating at a loss that cannot be addressed by reserves or alternative income. These are real concerns that highlight the difficulty not-for-profit community providers face in seeking to enter a competitive procurement process that is very likely to have the effect of favouring the bigger, for-profit providers, which, realistically, will have more experience in making these sorts of tender applications and will, therefore, bring very different kinds of measures to the table. The Minister has said phase 2 will refer more to social value and social engagement. That is welcome but it still does not go far enough in answering those valid concerns that have been expressed by so many entities, including Fórsa, SIPTU, the ILDN, the individual service providers, the CEOs of the services and, most importantly, those who are being given the chance to make transformative life changes through the work of the services.

It is unsustainable to continue on the current trajectory. I ask that the Minister consider, as the motion requires, suspension of plans to tender out services and consider, with her Government colleagues, supporting the motion, as we in Labour Party do. The sector is united against the current trajectory and we ask that she listens to all those who are on the front line.

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