Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 406: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of jobs lost in Donegal in each of the past ten years; the percentage of jobs lost which were in the textile sector; and the retraining initiatives provided to workers made redundant including the number of those made redundant which have availed of retraining provided by the State. [32582/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Gross job losses in Enterprise Ireland and IDA supported companies in County Donegal since 1996-2005 is not yet available — were as follows:

Of the total gross job losses indicated above, 66% were attributable to losses in the textiles and clothing sector. As regards retraining initiatives, FÁS has played, and will continue to play, an active and very positive role in respect of company lay-offs and closures. Services offered by FÁS to workers losing their jobs comprise the following elements: liaison with senior management in the company affected with regard to how the process will be conducted; information sessions for all affected workers if required. The aim of these sessions is to outline the range of support and services available from FÁS and other public bodies. FÁS employment services staff conduct full registration interviews with all workers. These interviews help assess suitable career progression options for each redundant worker and identify their training and development needs. FÁS prepares a skills analysis report detailing a composite of the skills of the workforce. This is available to the development organisations such as the IDA and Enterprise Ireland on request. A skills-training aspiration list is also compiled to inform FÁS of the required re-training and upskilling needs of the redundant workers. This training is delivered by various means; existing scheduled training programmes delivered by our three training centres within the region, Letterkenny, Gweedore and Sligo, or in the case of a specialist training requirement, at any FÁS centre throughout the country. Contracted training and community based training can also be availed of. In the past FÁS increased dramatically its range of contracted training courses to meet the retraining needs of redundant workers. Special training needs not catered for by the existing FÁS suite of programmes can be facilitated through its customised training fund, evenings-Saturday courses and e-learning options. The provision of information, career guidance and advice is an ongoing element of the service to redundant workers. Redundant workers are given initial and on-going information and support to keep them in touch with the labour market. They are advised of the FÁS Jobs Ireland database which allows jobseekers to register their curriculum vitae and source jobs via the Internet. They are also informed of the FÁS call centre which provides a job matching facility for jobseekers and they are provided with information on the cross-Border and Eures websites.

In respect of redundant workers who do not succeed through the above interventions, they will be referred to FÁS once again via the national employment action plan strategy on reaching the six month unemployment threshold. They will then be assigned a FÁS officer and become a caseload client. They will be interacted with on a regular basis to assist their re-entry to the workforce. While most workers being made redundant would have availed of at least some of the services above, approximately 1,000 availed of full retraining over the past ten years.