Some unemployed may get reduced social welfare

Unemployed people who refuse offers of work, training or participation in work experience schemes will have their social welfare payments cut in a scheme which is to start in September, the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment announced yesterday. Opening the annual conference of the Small Firms Association, Ms Harney said that unemployed people under 25 would have a six-month period, after which, if they refused work or State supports, they would be cut off. People over 25 would have a 12-month threshold, she said.

She added that the State had no obligation to support people who refused such offers and "conditionality" had to be introduced.

"And beginning with people under 25, once they cross the six-month threshold, once they are six months unemployed, they will be either offered work or training or work experience.

"If they refuse that, they will be cut off, and adults who have crossed the 12-month threshold will be cut off if they refuse, and we have spent the last number of months trying to put the system in place to deal with this," she said in an RTE interview. The policy was broadly welcomed by Fine Gael, but the party's spokeswoman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Nora Owen, said that an independent appeals mechanism would have to be put in place prior to any decision to withdraw dole from people being made. She said that training had to be suitable to the circumstances and needs of an unemployed person, and sufficient counselling and advice about job and training opportunities had to be provided. The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias de Rossa, said there was nothing in the Government's Employment Action Plan, published in April, which suggested that dole payments would be withdrawn from people.

Labour Party spokesman, Mr Tommy Broughan, said that the Tanaiste's proposals amounted to "a punitive approach" which would see unemployed people being forced into "unproductive schemes" or further marginalised if they lost their social welfare payments.

"I would be concerned that she (Ms Harney) is hinting at the emergence of Workfare in Ireland," he added. However, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) said that the Tanaiste's comments were "refreshing and realistic". SIPTU, the largest union in the State, said Ms Harney's proposed approach was "a threatening and destructive harassment of the unemployed".

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) said that Ms Harney had chosen to appeal to "the vindictive streak in some people".

Mr Mike Allen, INOU general secretary, who also addressed yesterday's SFA conference, said that it was important now for Fianna Fail to clarify whether the Tanaiste's comments represented Government or Progressive Democrat policy. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had told the INOU in May that the Government was committed to recruiting unemployed people on to training programmes through the quality of training on offer. The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) said Ms Harney's comments were discriminatory and called for the Partnership 2000 partners to consult on the proposals' implications. Cllr Martin O'Regan, of the Workers Party, said that the proposed measures were a move to introduce "industrial conscription".