Results 1-20 of 34 for jobpath speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...b) ensure that, for no period in the 24 months following initial receipt of that payment, are the educational, training and employment opportunities available to an individual limited to those provided by Jobpath.”. I also want to raise some issues on this section. We have heard much discussion on unforeseen consequences and having to roll back and change things. There is...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...March, find themselves technically long-term unemployed when, in fact, the sector they were in has only been operating again for a few months. I am concerned that these people could be routed into JobPath and, as a result, other options could be closed off to them. That is an issue that arose again and again on the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection of which I...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a couple of matters to raise. The problem is not so much whether people are long-term unemployed but rather how we have been treating the long-term unemployed with the JobPath scheme. I am sure as the Minister enters her brief she will look back and see the litany of testimony from the social protection committee around the concerns arising from a narrowing of options associated with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Adult Literacy: Discussion (19 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...about how to ensure people are given literacy or educational options when they are in contact with employment services. For example, people may have much anxiety if they are put through the JobPath scheme or they be concerned about losing entitlements. What does a positive or negative invitation to engage with these services look like? How do we ensure that people who may have literacy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...in the Indecon report and there is a detailed breakdown of what we already know from the different testimonies to the committee. I wish to focus on the benefits of the LES. I might mention JobPath but I will focus on the schemes we are reviewing. The Minister will be aware that yesterday, I brought a public procurement Bill through Second Stage in the Seanad. It has a long journey...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...choice being offered to the person who is being assisted. What weighting would be given to quality if this procurement process is pursued? Quality of training of staff had a low weighting in the JobPath process. It is vital that a high weighting is given to quality and different quality measures. That is different from the paper performance which is about the outcome.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Quality and responsiveness are important. The scaling moved up quickly with JobPath. There would be space and freedom from the European procurement directives if tendering was not pursued and Intreo's internal capacity was looked at instead. Is there potential for, or are there plans for, increasing Intreo's staffing levels and perhaps, in some of the ongoing work, increasing the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Discussion (2 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...scope in this respect. The witnesses quoted community workers' research. Reference was made to how services of general interest are allowed and that is completely correct. It is interesting. JobPath was the first time competitive tendering was used and European directives were cited as the justification. In fact, social services are explicitly excluded from the competitive tendering...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Mar 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...but the key point made by Deputy Smith is important. It is not that separate. We heard about the return to third level and training. One of my key concerns, which emerged in the hearings on JobPath, is that the programme makes it difficult for people to move into education or training. By its nature, it tends to push people towards employment opportunities only. In many cases, where...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Mar 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...the Chairman was suggesting a compromise. There are two sentences in the amendment, the first of which is fundamental as it makes it very clear that nobody should be required to participate in JobPath or a similar programme. I understand there are difficulties because it is difficult for others to agree with some of the other language used, although I agree with it, but the fundamental...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Mar 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: JobPath or a similar programme. The first sentence might offer another compromise suggestion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: JobPath Programme: Discussion (17 Jan 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank our guests for their testimonials and analysis, which were very useful. They reflected many of the issues not just in respect of JobPath but also those raised in the wider report prepared by this committee on unemployment. One of the key issues is the appropriateness of placing in terms of quality and the importance of linking to a work-first approach versus an education, training...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...cost to the State. It would simply allow the flexibility for an authentic engagement between case workers and lone parents, who are predominantly women, to ensure they do not find themselves on JobPath being told they have to consider a list of three full-time jobs when they know they cannot. Even since we did our report, we have had very strong testimony on other issues. People talked...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Joint Meeting of the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joint Committee on Education and Skills and Joint Committee on Health
Supports for People with Disabilities: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...is one of the issues that has not landed suddenly; it is one of the most known issues. We know it is a long-term fact of society and yet it seems there is a huge reliance on pilot schemes. JobPath, for example, scaled up very quickly and yet we have had a litany of excellent practice schemes which seem to have come and gone. WALK PEER was mentioned as was the three-year funding. Is it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Joint Meeting of the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joint Committee on Education and Skills and Joint Committee on Health
Supports for People with Disabilities: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...is one of the issues that has not landed suddenly; it is one of the most known issues. We know it is a long-term fact of society and yet it seems there is a huge reliance on pilot schemes. JobPath, for example, scaled up very quickly and yet we have had a litany of excellent practice schemes which seem to have come and gone. WALK PEER was mentioned as was the three-year funding. Is it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...who are very new to the live register, to jobseeker's allowance, for example, persons who may have come out of periods of caring and elsewhere, who find themselves being referred very early to JobPath. That is something the Department could answer, with regard to increasing referrals from those who are not in the long-term unemployed bracket. Will the witnesses clarify the random...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ..., was somebody who was a caregiver. Somebody who had been in a caregiving situation was very keen to move back to education and restart their life, but found themselves selected and thrown into JobPath very soon after leaving caregiving because the person they were caring for had died. There is a question about exit routes. I know Mr. McKeon has mentioned the community employment, CE,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Joint Meeting of the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joint Committee on Education and Skills and Joint Committee on Health
Supports for People with Disabilities: Discussion (3 May 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...so many brilliant good practices and we see it again and again. For example, on the European Youth Guarantee, in a separate area, we see great projects and ideas tested out. Then something like JobPath is seen which rolls out on a huge scale very quickly. It is something we need to examine and get a stronger reporting on where the scalability and the plan is and show that there is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Joint Meeting of the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joint Committee on Education and Skills and Joint Committee on Health
Supports for People with Disabilities: Discussion (3 May 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...so many brilliant good practices and we see it again and again. For example, on the European Youth Guarantee, in a separate area, we see great projects and ideas tested out. Then something like JobPath is seen which rolls out on a huge scale very quickly. It is something we need to examine and get a stronger reporting on where the scalability and the plan is and show that there is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Joint Meeting of the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joint Committee on Education and Skills and Joint Committee on Health
Supports for People with Disabilities: Discussion (3 May 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...so many brilliant good practices and we see it again and again. For example, on the European Youth Guarantee, in a separate area, we see great projects and ideas tested out. Then something like JobPath is seen which rolls out on a huge scale very quickly. It is something we need to examine and get a stronger reporting on where the scalability and the plan is and show that there is a...