Sharp differences have emerged between community activists over the priorities to be pursued in the Government's proposed £44 million Social Economy Programme. The money is to be provided through FAS and the aim is to target the long-term unemployed.
Details were provided at a seminar of the Dublin Employment Pact yesterday. Of the £44 million, £38 million will be from the redirection of funds currently sustaining 5,000 places on Community Employment Schemes. The aim is to replace these with 2,700 sustainable, full-time jobs in the social economy, 90 per cent of which would go to long-term unemployed people aged 35 or over.
However, Ms Margaret Hayes, of Dublin's Northside Partnership project, said the emphasis on full-time employment "doesn't bode well for women".
The chairwoman of the National Women's Council, Ms Noirin Byrne, said childcare was one of the main areas of the social economy targeted for growth.
"If 90 per cent of jobs are for people over 35 it will have a big impact on existing services," as many of those already involved "won't fit the criteria".
Mr Seanie Lambe, a veteran activist in the north inner city, questioned the sense of scrapping 1,000 jobs for people, many of them men in the their 50s with no prospect of alternative employment, in order to "let a whole new group go through the same dispiriting experience".
However, Mr Gerry Folan, of Dublin Corporation's development department, said the new proposals would be more effective.
The director of Pavee Point, Mr Niall Crowley, said the new programme could seen as a threat or an opportunity. It was important that "people who struggled through the lean times do not lose control" of the process. They had to define programmes to be flexible and inclusive.