Long-term Unemployed to be hit by FAS cutbacks and redundancies

5 Aug 2003

Unemployment blackspots among hardest to be
Hit within the next three months.
As a direct result of a decision by FAS to reduce the number of participants on the Jobs Initiative Programme from 2,525 to 2,200 by the end of the year - up to 325 people face the bleak prospect of redundancy.

Areas hardest hit by these savage cuts will be Dublin North, the Inner City and Limerick.

The General Secretary of the INOU, Eric Conroy, roundly condemned these cutbacks as totally unacceptable. "At a time of constantly rising unemployment where will Jobs Initiative people get jobs in an economy where more than 500 jobs are being lost every week?”

The workers affected will be referred to the employment services (FAS and the Local Employment Service) in theory to find alternative employment. With the current job situation, this will simply not happen. “Instead of the usual remit of the Employment Services of helping unemployed people find jobs, this has now been turned on its head said Mr. Conroy.

JI workers who are being given notice over the next couple of months are in some cases being offered the High Supports Process (HSP) to help them. HSP is only being rolled out at present and is not operational on the ground in Dublin at this time. There is also only a limited budget which has in large part been allocated, therefore the scope for addressing JI participants being let go at this time is limited.

“These cutbacks are part of the savage expenditure cuts across the social sector of government” said Mr. Conroy. “The services provided by those working on JI are being lost and this will get worse in the months ahead. They will send people back to the dole and lead to further desolation in marginalised communities. They will further exacerbate poverty and social exclusion levels in Irish society”.