Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 118: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of jobs lost in Donegal in 2005 and to date in 2006; 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 retaining provided by the State. [32444/06]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the percentage of jobs in Donegal at present which are in the textile sector and the percentage breakdown by sector of other jobs in County Donegal. [32445/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 118 and 119 together.

The number of job losses in 2005 in Donegal, for IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland supported companies, totals 578, the majority of which were in the textile sector. It should also be noted that 648 jobs were created in IDA and EI supported companies in 2005. 2006 figures are not yet available.

A breakdown of sectoral employment for 2005, for Enterprise Ireland and IDA supported companies located in Donegal is set out in the attached tabular statement.

The Deputy will also be aware that there have been significant job announcements in Donegal recently.

SITA INC (Information Networking Computing) announced on the 31st March 2005 that it plans to expand its software operation in Letterkenny, County Donegal, with the support of IDA Ireland, which will lead to the creation of 123 high quality software development jobs over a three year period.

Zeus Industrial Products Inc. announced, on the 22 September 2005, that it intends to set up a European Operations Centre in Letterkenny where it hopes to create 150 jobs over the next three years.

In March 2006, Abbott announced its intention to establish a manufacturing facility in Donegal Town which will create 155 jobs while AssetCo announced its intention to create 130 jobs in Lisfannon with the support of Enterprise Ireland.

Retraining of workers previously employed in traditional sectors such as clothing and textiles is a very important element in the strategy to address the relatively difficult employment situation in Donegal. FÁS will continue to play an active and very positive role in providing support to workers who have lost their jobs and require retraining to take up jobs in different sectors. Services offered by FÁS to workers losing their jobs and requiring retraining comprise the following elements. There will be liaison with Senior Management in the Company affected with regard to how the process will be conducted and 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 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, and existing scheduled training programmes are 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 job-seekers to register their CV and source jobs via the internet. They are also informed of the FÁS Call Centre which provides a job matching facility for job-seekers and they are provided with information on the Cross-Border and Eures websites.

Redundant workers who do not succeed through the above interventions will be referred to FÁS once again via the National Employment Action Plan Strategy, on reaching the 6 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, some 1,000 workers in Donegal availed of full retraining over the last 10 years.

IDA