A wet Monday night in January is hardly the time to expect international custom, but not so in McDonagh's fish restaurant in Galway just a few days ago. The visitors were from Krasknokamsk, near Perm in Russia - an industrial city about the same size as Galway, but with high levels of unemployment.
The delegation had travelled to the west coast of Ireland to study the idea of "partnership", with a view to developing initiatives aimed at generating work. The visit was hosted by Galway City Partnership in conjunction with Galway Development Services International, with financial support from the EU technical assistance programme, known as TACIS.
Ms Natalia Severova, the group's leader, told The Irish Times that she had heard about Galway through a European contractor working on the labour market and training needs in her region. Krasnokamsk's main industries are paper production, machinery, food-processing and transport, and the unemployment rate is 8 per cent. The big problem is a mismatch between employers' needs and qualifications held by school-leavers and graduates.
The Galway City Partnership, and the Galway Rural Development Company, are part of the national area-based partnership network known as Planet. These partnerships were established by the government in 1991 under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress as a locally based response to long-term unemployment and social exclusion.
They represent a local version of the national social partnership structure, with boards of management comprising representatives of State agencies, the social partners, elected representatives and members of the community and voluntary sector. The companies are located, owned and run by the local community in designated disadvantaged areas, and receive financial help from the EU and the Government to implement their multi-annual integrated area action plans.
These plans in turn are drawn up in consultation with local people, and the main approach is to identify the needs of the most disadvantaged. Planet says that a small investment in this strategy over the period 1994-1999 reaped significant returns. For a sum amounting to 1.5 per cent of the Government's total spending during that five-year period, some 13,100 long-term unemployed people set up their own businesses; some 13,500 previously unemployed people were placed in employment; and more than 13,000 adults on low incomes were assisted in participating in education and training.
Galway City Partnership is involved in many initiatives, such as supporting young mothers in education, providing support for young school leavers, providing training programmes for the long-term homeless, and funding a community development worker for the Galway Refugee Support Group. Both Galway City Partnership and Galway Rural Development run the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance Scheme, in conjunction with the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.
The rural development company runs an employment mediation service around the county, works on community training, and recently supported employment of a community arts worker in Portumna. The "hands-on" model allows for identification of problems, such as the fact that many people with a disability are among the long-term unemployed.
"The big issue here is changing the mindset of the employers," say Maeve Murray of Galway City Partnership and Siobhán O'Malley of Galway Rural Development. Both organisations are well aware of the impact of phasing out community employment schemes. When these were first set up, many people used them as stepping stones to full-time work.
For Natalia Severova and her group from Perspektiva partnership, the visit has been very useful. "We felt we needed to find people already working with this model, who could advise us and guide us," she said.
"It was a very pleasant surprise to find how well respected the Galway City Partnership is here, and how influential. And we learned that problems can be solved at local level.