Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue and very much appreciate his long-standing interest in this area. I am not sure I will be able to give him as full a reply as he seeks, but in so far as there is any information missing, I assure him I will revert to him in that regard.

I take the opportunity to emphasise my continued commitment and that of the Government to promoting good employment and equality practices by all employers in Ireland, including those in the SME sector. As we have highlighted on a number of occasions, there is a body of evidence that, in addition to improving the welfare of workers, such practices have advantages for firms in improving competitiveness and stimulating innovation.

The panel to which the Senator refers relates to activities undertaken by the Equality Authority under an overall equality mainstreaming approach programme. This programme was set up under the 2007-13 human capital investment operational programme in Ireland. The equality mainstreaming activity is jointly funded by the European Social Fund and from the Equality Authority's grant-in-aid provision to a maximum of €4 million over the period of the ESF programme. In this context, expenditure incurred in 2014 is also covered.

Overall, the programme aims to contribute to improving access to the labour market for specific groups experiencing barriers to employment. It does this by supporting small and medium enterprises, providers of vocational education and training and providers of labour market programmes to make institutional changes to combat discrimination, promote equality and accommodate diversity. The selection of individual projects for funding is a matter for the project management within the criteria set out and agreed with the ESF for the overall programme. There are a number of distinct strands to the programme.

Support packages are provided for vocational education providers, training providers and labour market programme providers and trade union and employer networks. Research is funded to support the knowledge base on groups vulnerable to discrimination across the nine grounds protected under equality legislation. The development of resource materials is funded, supporting good practice in combating discrimination, promoting equality and accommodating diversity. For example, an employer's guide to equality in the workplace was developed with the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association and is actively disseminated within the SME sector by that body. A fourth strand involves the provision of consultancy support benefiting enterprises in the form of projects undertaken on a sectoral basis with groups of enterprises and other stakeholders and such support is ongoing.

In the first four years of the programme equality expertise was also made available to enterprises on an individual basis under a grants scheme for SMEs. Under this scheme small businesses have been offered from one to four days consultancy support by expert equality trainers and facilitators to put in place equality policies and practices. This support was paid for directly by the Equality Authority. Some 282 individual SMEs benefited from direct interventions of this nature, with spending on the SME grants scheme amounting to €759,000.

As I explained, the Equality Authority, in its role of project manager, has responsibility for the selection of individual projects for funding. In preparing its work plans, the authority is advised by a national framework committee comprising the social partners, the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Finance and other stakeholders. The Senator will be aware that this committee took a decision in early 2011 that it would not be prudent to operationalise the SME grants scheme in that year. In the current difficult economic environment it proposed that a sectoral project approach, through which equality expertise could be made available to enterprises, might be an effective mechanism for engagement with the SME sector.

Accordingly, the SME grants scheme did not operate in 2011 or 2012 and it is not planned to operate it in 2013.

I support the decision that was made by the authority, which is a valid one, in the very difficult economic budgetary context we face. While the Equality Authority has made no announcement regarding its priorities, under this programme for 2014, I am advised that the authority has not closed the door on re-instating an SME grant in the future, if and when the budgetary outlook is more favourable. I thank the Senator for raising the important topic, of the mainstreaming of equality.