PLANNED PUBLIC spending cuts which were due to affect up to 22,500 participants on community employment schemes have been reversed.
Major reductions in training grants as other forms of spending cutbacks in community employment schemes were announced by the training and employment authority Fás a month ago.
The plans drew sharp criticism from community workers and employers who protested outside the Department of Finance a fortnight ago. They warned that many schemes in deprived areas could close as a result of the cutbacks.
In a recent statement, Fás confirmed that no changes will be made to the funding of community employment schemes. However, it did not rule out other cost-saving measures in the future. It said the community employment budget was still under review.
Gerry Flanagan, Siptu’s branch organiser for the community sector, yesterday welcomed what he said was a U-turn in the face of widespread protests.
“These cuts would have undermined the work of up to 1,000 community employment schemes and inevitably led to the closure of some of them. They are all based in disadvantaged areas and often the only outlet for employment,” he said.
The proposed cost-saving measures included reducing training grants for community employment scheme participants from €500 to €300 per annum. In addition, materials and administration grants worth €20 per participant were to be axed. Siptu estimates the cuts would be worth in the region of €10 million.
Fás said these cost-saving measures were as a result of Government plans to provide an additional 400 places on the programme within its existing budget.
The statement does not make clear what was behind the reversal decision, except to say there was “confusion” as to the status of the proposal. Cost-saving measures had been discussed internally in recent months to see if it was feasible to deliver the proposed changes. “Some preparatory work was carried out by the IT staff in preparation for the approval of the proposal and regional staff briefed some sponsors of the possible changes that were being proposed,” it said. However, in light of the worsening state of the public finances, Fás said it was asked by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to find other potential savings.
“In the meantime, some confusion arose as to the status of this proposal. In order to clarify the situation, further correspondence was issued to regional staff ... to ensure that no changes were to be implemented currently.”
In the meantime, it is not clear what the status is of other planned spending cuts across the community sector. According to Siptu, projects involved in implementing the national drugs strategy face a cut in funding of 17 per cent.