Results 101-120 of 1,150 for speaker:Frank Fahey

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: I am glad to say we have had considerable success in this area. We will launch initiatives to help people with disabilities to get back into the workplace in the current year. The extra 2,500 places which have been made available to people under farm assist programmes will be subject to a different set of conditions. These will be announced by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht...

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: I am not claiming them. I am simply saying they displace——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: If the Senators would listen, what I am saying is——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: That is true and it is a very good thing. The extra 2,500 places being provided under the rural farm assist scheme will enable 1,300 people already on CE schemes to be transferred to that scheme. A further 1,200 who would otherwise be accessing CE will now be in the new farm scheme.

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: These are an extra 2,500 places in addition to the 30,000 already there. I am acutely conscious that quite a number of people have been on CE schemes on a continual basis. Under this new programme there will be a much greater focus on training and extra funding is being invested therein. There will be greater emphasis on training as opposed to the work experience element of community...

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: ——as in the case of Mountbellew, where two different schemes were in operation. There has been agreement——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: I am speaking about the structures involved in the organisation of those schemes. There were previously two schemes in Mountbellew and these will amalgamate. It does not make any sense to have two CE schemes operating side by side in a small town such as Mountbellew.

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: I have spoken to people involved in schemes. They recognise there must be efficiency, cost effectiveness and value for the work being done. As Senator Ross stated, we are spending——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: We are spending €351 million this year on the community employment schemes and that is a considerable sum of money. We must ensure value for money and that the jobs being provided through CE are productive.

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: We are not taking any line; we are simply ensuring there is value for money and that the communities being assisted receive good service——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: In the unlikely event that were to happen, I am sure Senator Burke would wish me well or perhaps it is wishful thinking on his part.

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: It is very important to ensure that volunteerism, which has been the bedrock of rural communities in particular, is not replaced. It was beginning to be replaced because CE programmes were simply providing for services that people formerly provided themselves. The new approach will be to help communities who want to help themselves. Where there is a good culture of volunteerism, we will give...

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: The figures will prove they have been successful. Job creation is being achieved in job black spots as a result of retraining, upskilling and further education. There is ample evidence that as a result of retraining and upskilling, people who formerly worked in menial jobs in companies which did not pay well, are now in new, better paid jobs. I acknowledge there is still a major problem in...

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: It remains to be seen who came out badly. I assure Senator Burke that since I entered this Department I have worked very hard to build on the good work being done in community employment schemes around the country. We make them more effective and ensure that those on community employment schemes emerge——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: I am quite satisfied that the changes have been good. I will reply to the Senator's taunts. If he ever gets the opportunity to serve in Government, it seems he will not be prepared to show the courage to make changes——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: If the Senator is not prepared to stand up and fight——

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: If the Senator wants to be personal about being thumbed down, I suggest that if he had a little more courage he would be sitting in the other House instead of this House today.

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: On a point of information, I have not used a speech in either House since I began speaking about community employment schemes.

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Frank Fahey: It is very much in the right place.

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (3 Feb 2004)

Frank Fahey: As part of the Government's decision in 1999 to restructure community employment, future participation in CE by an individual was capped at three years, effective from April 2000. This change was introduced to discourage repeated participation in CE and to encourage unemployed persons to avail of training or education options where possible, which are shown to have more successful progression...