Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 14, after line 18, to insert the following:

“Report on Voluntary Labour Activation20. The Minister for Employment and Social Protection shall, within eight months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas examining potential improvements to voluntary access to INTREO and LES employment, training and educational opportunities and supports for those not on the Live Register.”.

This has relevance for amendment No. 12 which deals with qualified adults. There is a concern that, particularly in recent years, there has been a strong focus on the live register, with a political demand to ensure the numbers on it change. There has been neglect of those not on the live register but who want to access employment, training or education.In my previous life with the National Women's Council of Ireland, I appeared before the social protection committee, where I got the sense that those who were facing sanction on the live register in terms of accessing employment would always take priority and that people needed to wait. In recent discussions at that committee, the sense has been that we might now be able to give a little bit of support to those seeking voluntary activation measures, be those in education, employment or training. I regret the approach that was taken previously. We have resources now, but many people who could have spent three-year, four-year or five-year periods of their lives engaged in training, education or employment were not supported. We are discussing people's lives and opportunities.

The emphasis on those who face sanction and are being compelled to seek activation measures has sometimes caused us to neglect those who may be interested in voluntarily accessing supports but have concerns about the system. For example, the system still requires full-time availability, which can act as a disincentive for those who may want to start building labour market attachment by working part-time because they have caring commitments or diminished capacity.

Rather than just having access "in principle", given that I have often been told that, in principle, there is access to Intreo and local employment services, I am calling on the Minister to ensure that there is effective access and support for those who are not on the live register but who wish to seek employment and activation measures, for example, people who are in receipt of the one-parent family payment. They may wish to access employment and training opportunities prior to going on the jobseeker's transitional payment. Lone parents have been mentioned. There are many who would like to access supports and would not need to be pushed, but who would need to be supported.

Qualified adults are invisible in the social protection system. In fact, not only are they distant from the jobs market, they are also distant from the social protection system and employment and activation supports. In many cases, we do not chart who they are and what they might be interested in fully. They can disappear from the register and the system.

The issue of people in receipt of the disability allowance requires a longer discussion. Senator Dolan has engaged actively on this matter and may raise it on Report Stage. Many high-quality schemes, for example, JobsPlus, are not available to people who are not on the live register. One of the most striking and heart-breaking examples is the European Youth Guarantee. When it was rolled out in Ballymun, a large number of lone parents were under the age threshold for the guarantee, but they were not allowed to access employment, training and education opportunities through the pilot scheme because the Youth Guarantee was targeted towards the live register.

These people have fallen by the wayside. The Minister has an interest in this issue. I will not speak so extensively on amendment No. 12 because it touches on similar issues, but amendment No. 9 suggests how to make access and support a reality for everyone who seeks them on a voluntary basis.