Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I know the Minister is aware of this issue because I have been in contact with the shop steward in the Congress centre and she said contact had been made with him. On 16 April, 42 workers and two supervisors at the Dublin 12 job initiative scheme received termination notices and were quite shocked at the way in which the situation was handled. Very little information is trickling down to workers on why this is happening and to where the situation can move. There were three meetings of the workers and they asked that the representatives, presenting a united front, approach the Minister seeking a new host to employ the 42 workers and two supervisors to keep the work in the Dublin 12 area. It is a question of whether the Minister can assist these workers in finding a host organisation to keep them doing the good work they do in the area. They know there is a sponsor in Canal Job Initiative Limited.

If that is the case, they would like to hear from the Minister whether she sees the Dublin 12 Congress Centre going into that initiative or whether there is a role for them that will let them remain in the Dublin 12 area to do the work where they have been doing it in the past 12 years.

One thing which relates more to the future than to this issue is the shadow employer and their long-term contracts and future pension rights. However, the immediate issue is as I have described it and the workers would welcome a positive response from the Minister today.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I was advised of this issue some time ago. No more than the Deputy, I was very shocked at how the job initiative workers were advised of this. Deputy Johan Collins, her colleague, Deputy Eric Byrne, and others have been involved for a number of weeks in seeking to assist the job initiative workers and to reassure them. There is no threat to their position from the point of view of the Department of Social Protection. The issue relates to the managers of the particular scheme.

The Department funds the Dublin 12 job initiative scheme, which currently has 44 participants and two team leaders. These participants are placed in various community facilities in the Crumlin, Walkinstown and Drimnagh areas. On 4 April the Dublin 12 Congress Centre, as sponsor, officially informed my Department that it did not want to renew its sponsorship of the job initiative scheme and requested the Department to source an alternative sponsor for the project. My officials are currently in confidential discussions with two organisations which have said they are prepared to sponsor this scheme and I expect these discussions to conclude in the near future. In the meantime, the current sponsors have assured my officials that they will continue to employ all of those involved until such time as a new sponsor is in place.

This issue has quite a long history. The scheme was originally under the partnership of KWCD, the Kimmage, Walkinstown, Crumlin and Drimnagh partnership. When this partnership was dissolved, the Dublin 12 Congress Centre agreed to take over the role of sponsor of the project. The Department expressed appreciation for that co-operation in facilitating the sponsorship of the scheme at the time and again expressed appreciation of the centre on its recent request to withdraw from its sponsorship of the scheme, as it is entitled to do.

The Dublin 12 Congress Centre is also the sponsor of a community employment scheme and a jobs club. The three schemes and the supervisory staff are all based in the Dublin 12 Congress Centre building. At the meeting on 6 March with the Department of Social Protection and the sponsoring committee, various issues which have been the subject of ongoing discussion between the Department and the centre were discussed. These issues have been the subject of negotiation following the centre's agreement to take over the sponsorship some time ago.

The renewal application for the scheme was received but was subsequently withdrawn. On receipt of confirmation that the sponsors wished to withdraw, the Department assured the Dublin 12 Congress Centre that it would source alternative sponsors. This is something we do with regard to the various CE schemes, of which there are over 1,000, and on which there are a couple of hundred people on the jobs initiative. From time to time a sponsor withdraws, and the normal practice is to seek another sponsor so that the people involved, particularly those on the job initiative, are never left out on a limb. I assure those involved that this has always been the position.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response which will be welcomed by the workers in this area. They were shocked at what happened - not just the fact that they got termination notices, but the way it was done and the lack of any detailed information. The shop steward and the workers have been trying to get detailed information. The termination notices issued for 14 June have been withdrawn. However, can the Minister confirm that the congress will continue to receive funding after 14 June if another sponsor has not yet been established for these workers? This important question must be answered. Also, does the Minister think the new sponsor organisation will be able to take over the project by that date? How open are the sponsors with whom the Department is having discussions to taking over the project quickly?

There are also questions about negotiations with workers on how the new sponsorship will operate. The workers want to maintain their presence in the Dublin 12 area, in Walkinstown, Crumlin and Drimnagh, and do not want to be removed from there. When the KWCD partnership was dissolved and went to the Rathmines-Pembroke area, many of the supports in the KWCD area were removed. The Dublin 12 Congress Centre is one of the supports that remained for Walkinstown, Crumlin and Drimnagh. What negotiations will take place with the workers and the new host organisation before it takes over the project?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The renewed application for this scheme was received and subsequently withdrawn. Obviously, the existing sponsor was free to do this. I understand this came as a bit of a surprise to a number of the Deputy's colleagues, particularly people such as Deputy Eric Byrne. The Dublin 12 Congress Centre is carrying out valuable work with its community employment scheme and its jobs club and proposes to continue with that. I hope it does so, because it is helpful in placing people in community employment and in getting people back to work. The jobs clubs are effective and I understand the one in Dublin 12 will continue, but it has requested to withdraw from the job initiative scheme.

On receipt of confirmation that the sponsor wished to withdraw, the Department assured people it would do its utmost to get alternative sponsors and asked specifically that the two team leaders and the participants be advised that their roles and posts were secure and that their employment would continue under the new sponsorship. This occurred before Easter and those involved have been reassured on this. Deputy Eric Byrne's office was involved in the issue at the time and was given full reassurance on the position. Unfortunately, the Department was not advised of the action to issue protective notice to the team leaders and participants, but we moved to reassure them that their position was secure. Confidential discussions are ongoing on this issue with two potential sponsors and I hope these discussions will conclude as soon as possible.