Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the discussions she has had with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment regarding amalgamating parts of FÁS activation programmes with her Department. [8918/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish National Employment Action Plan (NEAP), adopted by the Government as its response to the European Employment Guidelines, included a commitment to a more systematic engagement of the Employment Services with the unemployed. The NEAP is operated jointly by this Department and FÁS.

The National Employment Action Plan is a systematic process whereby persons in receipt of Jobseeker's Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance are identified by the Department of Social and Family Affairs for referral to FÁS. The purpose is to facilitate access to the range of employment and training services offered by FÁS.

Implementation of this commitment commenced in September, 1998. From that date, all persons under 25 who had reached six months on the Live Register were referred by the Department of Social and Family Affairs for interview by FÁS. As the Employment Action Plan progressed, the programme was extended to include other groups crossing nominated thresholds of unemployment and the activation period reduced from 6 months to 3 months.

Development of the NEAP is currently under consideration by an interdepartmental group on activation. This work is focusing on issues such as referral times, data exchange and maximizing capacity, and will inform a planned review of this Department's memorandum of Understanding with FÁS.

I am confident that National Employment Action Plan will be enhanced in its role in assisting unemployed persons enter or return to the labour force.