Oireachtas Briefing - Community Employment - July 1998

Oirechtas Briefing dealing with Community Employment issued in september 1998.

Summary

Introduction

On the 21st of July the cabinet agreed to cut Community Employment (CE) places by 4,500. This cut was not negotiated with the Social Partners, and was made on the day that the final agreement on the implementation of Paragraph 4.24 of Partnership 2000 was agreed by the Social Partners. This cut has the potential to undermine the negotiation of the next national agreement. Failure to reach a new agreement is perhaps, the greatest threat to our continued prosperity.

The INOU have called for an immediate meeting with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, and have proposed a four-point plan to protect the rights of the unemployed and the services offered by CE. The position has been endorsed by the entire Community and Voluntary Pillar of Partnership 2000.

The INOU four-point plan is as follows

  • A Government guarantee that funding for the current 37,500 CE places be maintained for 1999.
  • A Government guarantee that the 5,000 CE place scheduled to be translated into social economy jobs will only be phased out when the new jobs have been phased in.
  • A Government commitment that no action will be taken to reduce CE funding below the 37,500 level without agreement with the Social Partners on the reallocation of the resources to programmes which give greater benefit to the long-term unemployed.
  • A Government commitment that no action will be taken to reduce CE funding below the 37,500 level without agreement with the Social Partners to fund the services currently provided by CE, through the creation of secure employment in the community sector.

The INOU have also called on Government to restate a range of other commitments already entered into concerning changes in CE namely

  • the provision of additional training places for under -25s, and in particular for lone parents
  • that access to CE will still be open to under -25s and to those who have already spent 3 years on CE where this is the best option available to them.