Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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308. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason the Clondalkin jobs club is being taken out of the area; the reason funding from FÁS for this service was withdrawn; if the funding and services are to be transferred to another organisation or location via a Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment; the reason the former worker at the jobs club has not received any payment for weeks worked prior to the termination of his employment; the reason FÁS did not provide enhanced redundancy to the worker in question as they have done in other similar situations; her views on whether it is acceptable, in view of the level of unemployment in such an area as Clondalkin, for such an important service to be withdrawn from the area. [20052/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department has annual contracts for the provision of job club services with over 40 companies. Each contract is reviewed on an annual basis. As part of the review process the Department undertakes a structured appraisal of that provider’s performance with each element of provider performance being scored against a common rating scale used to assess all Job Clubs. Following an evaluation of Bawnogue Unemployed Group Limited, the Department did not believe that it could justify the renewal of the contract and notified Bawnogue Unemployment Group Ltd. of this decision in January 2013. The annual contract with Bawnogue Unemployed Group Limited subsequently expired on 29 March 2013 but was fully funded by the Department up to that date.

The Department is considering alternative arrangements for the provision of job club services in the area and is currently delivering employment services in the area through the Local Employment Service (Bawnogue office) and the Department’s employment services office in Clondalkin.

The question of the Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings Regulations does not appear to arise in this case as there is no transfer of an undertaking or a defined economic entity to carry on the activities previously provided by Bawnogue.

With regard to salaries and redundancy payments, the Department is not the employer and therefore such matters are issues for the company itself to address. However, where a company/employer is unable to pay statutory redundancy to employees it is open to them to avail of the Department’s redundancy and insolvency payments’ scheme, details of which are available on the Department’s website.

The Department is committed to the provision of quality job club services and will continue to evaluate job clubs to ensure the funds disbursed to fund their services are properly and effectively discharged to provide effective services to jobseekers and to facilitate the continuous improvement of the service.