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

I do not know what is more ridiculous, the fact that both Government speakers have commended the local employment services and the job clubs or that they are dismantling them. The Government is getting rid of the current services that exist in the local employment services and the job clubs. The Minister said my reference to the Indecon report was selective. Yes, the Indecon report put forward open procurement, but where did it refer to the change in model? That is the problem. If the legal advice and the EU procurement laws are correct and the Minister is right, that does not suggest a change in the model. The problem is that the Minister is moving from a not-for-profit to a for-profit model and taking these employment services out of the community. That is a fact. It is ridiculous to come here and commend them while taking the services away, with people set to lose their jobs.

The Minister also pushed forward the legal advice. She spoke about it for ages in her contribution. Again, so what if that is the legal advice. I do not take or accept that, but if it was, it does not say that the model should be changed. Why is the Minister changing the model? We have we not been told why the model is being changed. Surely that would be the first thing she would say. It is a joke that the Government will support this motion, which calls for suspending the tendering, when it knows it is not going to do that. Why support it? I must add that it is a disgrace there is no Fianna Fáil Deputy here this evening. The Fianna Fáil Deputies have gone to these people in their communities and given them their support, then they come up to Dublin and do not even have the manners, or the respect for those services and staff, to show up here in the first place. It is incredible.

Local employment services and job clubs are not against procurement. We know that. We see it in the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, and the tendering process there. The Minister referred to JobPath. Two or three years ago, a motion was passed in the previous Dáil to end JobPath. It was not just Sinn Féin talking about it. After almost six years, the programme has a 7% success rate. How is 7% a success, with €275 million of taxpayers' money? The Minister said phase 1 was not based on cost. If one did not have an annual turnover of between €1.2 million and €1.9 million, one was failed. It was a pass or fail, and that was game over. Can the Minister of State tell me how it was not based on cost? He cannot do so.

As regards social value and community linkages, what social value and community linkages did Seetec and Turas Nua put forward? They have none. How did they pass that part of the procurement process? Again, the Minister of State has not been able to answer those questions. Not one stakeholder supports what is being proposed. The Minister can talk repeatedly about all the consultations and engagements she has had. She should have been involved directly in many more of them rather than her departmental officials.

I will conclude by saying that the cross-party committee, including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party members of the committee, put forward the report, with no objection, stating that the job clubs and local employment services should remain as they are. They could have been expanded. If there were issues with job clubs not reaching targets, they could have been identified, highlighted and resolved. The model as is could have been procured with no problem under the current model. That was not the decision the Minister chose. She talked rubbish both about legal advice and in commending and complimenting the staff. That is no good to the more than 388 staff. The Minister talked about disservice to JobPath staff, but the staff in job clubs and local employment services have been treated disgracefully. It is a huge disappointment. I am disappointed that the Minister is supporting the motion, but is willing to do nothing. That is even worse.

See this speech in context