A REPORT on Government initiatives to tackle long term unemployment has exposed the ineffectiveness of those policies, according to Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats.
They were commenting on a report from the National Economic and Social Forum which welcomed the Government's overall approach but said there were still some serious defects. It also criticises some of the recommendations of the Government Task Force on Long Term Unemployment.
Following the publication of the report yesterday, the Fianna Fail spokeswoman on enterprise and employment, Ms Mary O'Rourke, said it highlighted the need for specific measures in any new national agreement to succeed the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
She said these should include six monthly targets to reduce the numbers of long term unemployed on the live register, the implementation of the new Local Employment Service across the State, the introduction of quarterly labour force surveys and the appointment of a Minister for Employment.
At present the LES is only to be introduced in 14 pilot areas. Labour force surveys are carried out annually and responsibility for employment policies is spread among eight Ministers and Ministers of State.
The PD spokeswoman on education, Ms Helen Keogh, said reports were no longer needed to show that today's early school leavers would end up unemployed. People were being conditioned for long term unemployment without the reformation of the education system to, tackle it.
The report welcomes the general thrust of Government policy, as outlined in the Budget and the task force report, but it says that even with a projected increase of 31,000 in the number of people at work this year and with provision for an extra 13,200 on Government sponsored schemes, unemployment is only expected to fall by about 3,000.
One aspect of Government policy it particularly criticises is the proposal to withdraw unemployment assistance from young people who fail to register with FAS.
It criticises the budget of an extra Pounds 10 million allocated in the Budget for active labour market measures to favour the long term unemployed. It is especially critical of the decision to limit the LES service initially to the State's 14 partnership areas, which were set up as pilot schemes in some of the most disadvantaged communities.
It criticises the proposal in the task force report that only the spouses of unemployed people who opt to "swap" places with their partner on the live register should be eligible to apply for certain employment schemes.
It says that the part time job opportunities pilot programme initiated by the Conference of Religious of Ireland only 2.5 per cent of participants have come through the "swap" system. It says CORI would have preferred to allow full access for spouses, but this was rejected on the grounds of cost to the Exchequer.
Despite its reservations, the NESF endorsed the "more focused and targeted approach" the Government was adopting to the long term unemployed.
Besides making the community employment programme more accessible to them, it said, the Government decision to allow long term unemployed people to retain medical cards for three years after obtaining a job was an important step forward.
It also welcomed "the modifications and improvements announced in the family income supplement, in the assessment of earnings from employment for unemployment assistance purposes, the increased number of places on the back to work allowance scheme and the retention of full child dependent allowances for the first 13 weeks of employment" by the long term unemployed.
THE National Youth Council of Ireland has called for a total rethink in the Government's approach to tackling unemployment.
A recent report from the National Economic and Social Forum on long term unemployment initiatives "paints a very bleak picture" for the futures of the 25,000 people aged under 25 who are in the long term unemployed bracket, said Mr Peter Byrne, director of the National Youth Council.
Reservations expressed in the NESF report about the Youth Progression Programme, targeted at 18 and 19 year olds, should be heeded. "Forcing young people into compulsory work programmes is not the answer."