Seanad debates

Tuesday, 21 March 2017

2:30 pm

Photo of Maire DevineMaire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not intend to take long. The Minister said at the start that it was not unusual for work to be outsourced and, indeed, some companies had even returned a profit. There is so much wrong with his statement that I do not know where to start. It comes from a platform of the Government enabling and paying, on behalf of the taxpayer, foreign private companies to provide jobs. As my colleague, Senator Conway-Walsh, has said, we are capable of doing the work here yet taxpayers' money has been used to pay the companies so much that they make a profit. That is the difference between the Minister and me. He has a liberalism agenda that is the polar opposite to mine. I would like to see investment in our people, public services and public delivery using our own money - the taxpayers' money - to provide services.

I have so many issues with JobPath. I still liken it to JobBridge. I am not exactly sure how the schemes differ. From my investigations I have learned that we are missing financial information to conduct a full analysis of the scheme, leaving us in a position of only being able to analyse estimates that have been provided by bits and pieces of information drip fed to us by Departments over time, including the Department of Social Protection, and previously in statements and interim reports. One such analysis was the January 2017 report. Between July and September 2015 it seems that the taxpayer paid 1,043 registration fees to private companies in order for 305 people to secure employment. Of course the Department will not release the price of the registration fees.

In December 2015 an estimated €12 million was given as the total spend on JobPath for 2015. If one takes July to September as half of the period, then one can assume that approximately €6 million was spent over three months. It is incredulous to think that it cost €6 million for 305 people to get a job. Are these estimates correct? Does the Minister believe the taxpayer got value for money? What about the €26.8 million that was spent on the scheme in 2016 compared with €20 million that was given to the LES? Why have privately-owned schemes received more funding? Referrals to LES have decreased by 10,000 people. Have the 10,000 people been placed on JobPath instead where we have had to pay extra to fulfil the profit desires and fill the pockets of privately-owned companies? I urge the Minister not to give me the commercially sensitive answer. There are people on JobPath who cannot fulfil the CE schemes that provide vital community services.

I concur with everything that my colleague, Senator Conway-Walsh, said earlier and I hope that the Minister can answer some of the questions.

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