THE MOVE by Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin, to write to more than 50,000 young jobseekers about education options has been criticised by Labour’s Ruairí Quinn.
He said the letter was a “meaningless . . . and pathetic attempt by the Minister to make it look like she has done something to tackle the jobs crisis.’’
The department’s mailshot will advise young people of the education and training options available to improve their skills and qualifications.
It will also outline allowances that can be claimed by people who return to education. The letter will issue to all those aged between 18 and 25 who have been signing on for over three months.
Fás and the department are extending the Job Search/National Employment Action Plan to cater for 12,250 cases each month, almost twice as many as were available last year.
The Government is also now providing, through Fás, a total of 128,000 training and activation places for unemployed people this year. There are also some 147,000 places available in further education programmes in 2009.
He said the 1,500 third level places – which form part of the package - are “a fraud because the deadline for CAO applications had passed two months before they were announced.
“The CAO system is targeted at school leavers – there is very little effort by the Government to ensure the unemployed are able to get priority to these new places.
“The Government has also failed to lift the cap on places in the VEC colleges. This means only 30,000 people can do a course in our VECs. This is absolutely unacceptable when thousands are losing their jobs every week. ’’
Mr Quinn said many teachers in these colleges are being let go when their contracts expire, so the VECs are increasingly under-resourced.
He accused the Government of pretending to create new courses when it is “just repackaging old schemes”. There have been no extra resources put into what should be a national priority for this Government.
Labour's recent policy document Just the Job, proposed a graduate and apprentice placement scheme, reductions in the eligibility criteria for social welfare education schemes and a lifting of the cap on numbers in the VEC colleges.
