Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Senator will agree that it has transformed the social welfare experience. We are converting it into a public employment service. An Intreo-serviced office is a place where people can get income supports, including jobseeker's payments, but it is primarily a place where everybody can be placed on the first step back to work, education or training. I hope this service can be rolled out in all of the principal offices throughout the country by the end of the year. It will depend on the OPW, but that is our target. We were on target at the end of December. I hope we will have converted most of the offices by the end of next December. The key thing is to profile the prediction of exit.

We take details of people's levels of education, where they have previously worked and what they earned. Based on that, we get a prediction of their likely exit from the live register, in many cases through getting a job. If you have young and highly qualified and experienced IT graduates whose work premises has, unfortunately, closed down, given the shortage of such people, it is very likely that they will be able to find a job in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, their spell of unemployment is likely to be short rather than protracted. If one takes those who possibly left school early on, signed on when they were 18, possibly built up two or three years where they have not worked and have relatively light qualifications, one would probably not be surprised that what might be essential here is to have educational and training assistance to help them get even an entry-level job in today's employment market. It is a process that is person-centred.

This year, we will double the number of case officers, as I advised Deputy O'Dea during the last Question Time involving the Department of Social Protection. Is that enough and would I like more? Yes, of course, I would like more but our resources are constrained and it is better to build up the system than say we will hold everything until we have a perfect set of resources in place. We submitted our proposals to the European Commission in early to mid-December in more detailed form that I have outlined to Senators. We anticipate that the Commission will come back to Ireland by the middle of this month and that this will enable us to have a more firm understanding of what we are likely to draw down. Due to the fact that Ireland had a much higher level of youth unemployment when the benchmark dates were set than we have now when it has fallen below 25%, we are still allowed to use the figures from 2011 to 2012 when the level was much higher as our benchmark. That should allow us to fast-forward some of the European funding. Those Senators who have dealt with European social funds will know that this process is complex and very demanding in terms of what one must fill in and one gets the money in arrears. I hope that in respect of European funds plus Irish additional funding, we would have an additionality amounting to €100 million per year. When we get the confirmation from the Commission, we will be in a better position to give the House a more finalised item. There is a cash flow element because by and large, European funding is recovered after about two years.

I stress the personal element. This is what is interesting about the Ballymun project, which is a European pilot. There is a series of pilots in other countries. Every unemployed person is an individual. Statisticians can group all the characteristics and give statistics but every young person is their own self. We hope to have services that are generalised but also personalised. I have seen in Ballymun how very disadvantaged young people who have not worked much will get support and help that builds up their confidence. The co-operation of employers and the SOLAS service is incredibly important. Before Christmas, the Department ran the first pilot scheme in the Cabra-Finglas area and north County Dublin with the supermarket chain Tesco. Tesco took on a number of trainees whom it interviewed. The people involved got an educational module of some period of time via Coláiste Dhúlaigh. Out of that, they got a FETAC level 4 qualification in retail. As part of their module, they also got work experience in warehousing logistics, which is obviously very big in terms of the supermarket industry, and worked in some of the Tesco branches. Out of that, up to one third of the young people were offered employment. Tesco now hopes to roll this out nationally.

I will address the JobBridge programme in Kildare. Again, I will make the details available to Senators. A number of the other supermarkets such as the Musgrave Group have training in retail excellence programmes. Different organisations offer training at different levels. In respect of JobBridge, a number of people spoke at an event where a supermarket took on some people on JobBridge. Some of them have gone into management while some are managing the delicatessen side of the operations, which is a big area in local large supermarkets. Based on the feedback from the people involved who were previously unemployed, some of whom had been in construction and changed field, the experience has been so positive for them on a personal level and very positive for the employers. We constantly monitor JobBridge. Where Senators or anybody else bring forward any criticisms, we always investigate. About 9,000 organisations have hosted JobBridge opportunities. It is not for everybody. It is a voluntary scheme. We have had about 4,400 site visits to monitor organisations offering JobBridge places.

There is a difficulty with respect of the embargo in the public sector. Based on my experience, a good quality work experience that is well-mentored, be it in the private or public sector, SME or voluntary or community organisation, is so important even if the organisation cannot guarantee to subsequently employ the person possibly because of funding issues. I know there was some comment recently about advertisements for JobBridge intern posts for PhDs. This is a question about our education system. Senator O'Donnell has worked in this sector. It is very sad to come across a PhD student who has had no work experience. If one has a very large gap on one's CV because one has been unemployed - this applies to any age - or has never worked, it is quite difficult to convince an employer that one is a person of serious calibre who will really contribute to their business. That is the job we must do. None of the schemes we offer, be it back to education, community employment, Tús which I started from zero or JobBridge, is perfect for everybody. We must find different ways. JobsPlus is a very important and generous incentive that is paid each month in arrears for each month that the person has been unemployed. The person must leave the live register so it has to be a sufficient enough job for them to do that. The employer is paid by electronic funds transfer the month after for up to two years of employment. Somebody asked whether this is a job for life.

Relatively few jobs, unfortunately, are guaranteed jobs for life. However, experience builds experience in a job. My time is concluded and there have been many questions from Senators. I will endeavour to provide replies to Senators.