Tánaiste announces a number of measures to help those who are unemployed

I am pleased to be able to report to you that  the  Tánaiste  and  Minister  for  Enterprise,  Trade  and  Employment, Ms. Mary Coughlan,  T.D., announced a number of measures  to  help those who are unemployed.  The measures are in line with the commitments made in the Government’s “Building Ireland’s Smart Economy”framework for economic renewal and are as follows:

 “The Department of Social and Family Affairs (DSFA) and

FÁS  are  working  closely  together  to  respond  quickly  to  the rise in

unemployment.  In  particular, FÁS’ Employment Services together with Local

Employment  Services  are  putting  in  place  measures designed to provide

increased  capacity for the rise in referrals from the Department of Social

and  Family  Affairs  and  the  increased  number of unemployed seeking job

search  assistance  voluntarily.   These  measures include direct referrals

from  DSFA  to  the  Partnership-run  Local  Employment  Services  and  the

redeployment of staff to the employment services area.

“The implementation of these measures will increase capacity from 6,500 per

month to 12,250 per month.

“FÁS  will  provide  an additional 51,000 places over the 27,000 previously

planned  in  2009  under  the Bridging Foundation Training, Specific Skills

Training  and  Traineeships Programmes. These programmes will provide short

training courses for job-changers or those who are recently unemployed.

“An examination is underway to review the outputs of the Community Training

Centres  Training  and Local Training Initiatives which provide training to

early school leavers and longer-term unemployed respectively”.

“The  Tánaiste  added  that  efforts  will continue to be be made to create

additional  capacity  within  current resources and that this could involve

the  development  of  new  programmes.  In this context the Government will

bring  forward  further  measures to ensure that those on the live register

receive  the  appropriate training and upskilling so as to be in a position

to contribute to the economy when the upturn occurs.