Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is possible Deputy Paul Murphy will turn up too; I am not sure. I thank Deputy Kerrane for tabling the motion. It is timely, and I know it is appreciated hugely by the LES workers throughout the country. Earlier, at the gates of Leinster House, we welcomed them from as far away as counties Mayo and Galway to Ballyfermot and County Meath. They came from all over Dublin as well as from the west. That goes to show the commitment these individuals have to the job they do.

I sometimes wonder when I am in this House what is really going on. One of the Sinn Féin Deputies touched on this earlier. I will quote many different people in my contribution. The first I will quote is the Taoiseach. Back in 2016, Deputy Micheál Martin spoke in favour of the LES schemes in his constituency in Cork:

The reality is we're losing too many community public services. More and more is being lost and it's being driven by a Government policy that does not value communities or public services...

I want to invest in public services. I want a Government that values communities ... and will protect the role of the Local Employment Service and other [such] schemes that we need operating on the ground.

I could quote other members of Fianna Fáil. One famous one - we all know where he stands on this issue - is Deputy O'Dea, from Limerick who stated: "I have always had instinctive reservations about the idea of the private sector being involved in job activation on behalf of the State, as there is obviously a conflict between the company providing the service, whose main objective is to make profit, and the needs of the individual whom the company is supposed to serve." What is going on in this House that I can quote the Taoiseach and a leading, long-time member of Fianna Fáil backing up the substance of the motion while the Minister stands there and tears apart what the LES stands for. She might say that she is not doing that, that she is letting it out to privatisation but that she must do so because the Attorney General advised her as much. What I cannot find in her speech is why the Attorney General gave her such advice and what prompted him to do so. She did not tell us that. It is not in her speech. It is not clear why, when something is working and does not need to be fixed, she is breaking it up. That is exactly what she is doing with the LES by putting it out to tender.

This is pure Fine Gael ideology and harks right back to Michael Noonan, when he was Minister for Finance, saying we must pick the low-hanging fruit first. Fine Gael has not stopped picking the low-hanging fruit. It is doing this with local employment schemes and it intends doing so with the local drugs task forces later this year. We really need to check ourselves and see what is going on here. The ideology that goes after the most vulnerable and the most marginalised is just not tolerable. There is a sense of class snobbery from Fine Gael in that its members do not get what goes on in communities such as Cherry Orchard and Ballyfermot. They do not understand it. I will further quote from an LES worker, as this might put it up to the Minister:

Payment per client pushes those most vulnerable and distant from the labour market further down the list. If we are dependent on payments for progressions, it only makes sense to focus on those that need little support to get employment. So, who will focus on those with barriers to employment?

The Minister has recently increased places on Community Employment, however, as referreals to CE are not financially beneficial to a service why would the service make such referrals. Also, as CE also must meet targets and get participant into work, CE schemes will also be selective in who they take on the scheme. Again, pushing those furthest from the labour market further down the list.

I will have to finish sooner than I had thought because my colleague has arrived. I will read out another quote. I am not sure when this was written but it is by Seamus Feely, who worked in the office of the Tánaiste. He wrote a paper entitled, The Origins & Context of Local Employment Services, in which he stated:

In essence ... [local employment services have] grown out of recognition that there are no mechanical or 'quick fix' solutions to the problem of long-term unemployment. The solution requires a considered and intensive response that takes full account of its complexity and the reasons for its persistence. Its success will require all actors to work closely together to deliver a co-ordinated and person-centred service. It will require flexibility in the nature and delivery of services and recognition that no one agency acting on its own can solve the problem.

Finally, I recommend that the Minister, if she has not already done so, watches Ken Loach's film "I, Daniel Blake". It will put into context for her where this Tory-driven, privatised idea of tendering out local employment services and other needs of the most marginalised and the most vulnerable leads. I recommend she watches that film because it shows the rabbit hole the Government is going down if it pushes forward with its proposal.

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