Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are certainly moving in the right direction. Five years ago the rate of unemployment was 15.2%. It is now below 9% and moving in the right direction. It was natural that there would be a concentration on assisting those in receipt of benefits to get back into employment. The distribution of what was a scarce resource was prioritised, I believe correctly. Now, as we move from recession into recovery, the topic raised by the Senator is timely. We have to discuss how we spend the fruits of the recovery and can ensure everyone will have an opportunity to share in it.The Senator has raised the issue of the unregistered unemployed with me numerous times, not only here in the House but also privately and I understand the concerns she has articulated especially over the past two years.

When the resources available to help people who are unemployed find work are constrained it makes sense that the State should allocate those resources, in the first instance, to those people upon whom it imposes an obligation to look for work. Having said that, many services are also available to unemployed people who are not in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment, regardless of their previous employment or self-employment status. For example, employment services, such as advice on job search activities and the use of online job search tools, are available to people if they register as jobseekers with the Department’s Intreo centres, regardless of their social welfare status. In addition, unemployed persons not in receipt of payments may also be eligible to avail of upskilling opportunities, for example through an education and training board, ETB, formerly FÁS, training for unemployed people.

Although they are not eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking the course, as the allowance is related to the level of people’s prior welfare payment they may receive some support for travel and meals costs. Springboard and Skillnets courses for unemployed people, funded through the Department of Education and Skills, are also open to people who are unemployed, regardless of their social welfare status.

Finally, activation services and programmes are generally available to other groups of welfare recipients who are not required to be unemployed, in other words, to be available for, and actively seeking, work. The two main groups involved here are recipients of lone parent's payments and of disability allowance. In fact, people on disability payments have access to a range of programmes and supports such as the wage subsidy scheme, the employability service and specialised training courses that are not available to other jobseekers.

The Department is training some staff in all of its Intreo centres to improve the quality of service offered to people with disabilities. As the economic recovery continues and demands on the employment service to work with unemployed people diminish, the Government has signalled its intention, in Pathways to Work 2016-2020, to extend proactive engagement to people of working age beyond the primary target group of people who are fully unemployed and receiving a jobseeker payment. Among the main groups under consideration for the expansion of services are: casual and part-time workers who receive welfare support; adult dependants of jobseeker claimants; "voluntary engagers", people who are not on the live register but wish to avail of employment services; and people in receipt of disability payments who may have a capacity to work and an interest in employment. Pathways to Work has a number of specific actions, for example, developing a proactive approach to support qualified adult dependants of people on welfare payments access employment, and expanding the use of Intreo centres by people with a disability, an objective that will be enabled by the staff training to which I already referred. In short, the Government is committed to assisting as many people as possible to become more self-sufficient through work and will do this by developing and building on the successful implementation of the Pathways to Work strategy.

That does not cover all of Senator Moloney’s contribution on pensions and pension contributions but this Government has made a commitment to start expanding the supports to people who are not receiving a benefit from the Department and helping as many people as possible to participate in the recovery that has started. There will be many opportunities for people to get back into employment and the Intreo service, which is an excellent one, in the Senator’s town will help people who had a break in their career, either because they were self-employed and their business went bust or because they took time out to rear children, back into work. The Intreo centres have grown roots in almost every major town in the country and they will be built on and expanded to provide a service to the citizens.