History

Pictured above are the Organising Committee for the 1oth Anniversary Celebrations and Former Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Tony Killean T.D.

Following the publication of a report prepared by the National Economic and Social Forum on ‘Ending Long-Term Unemployment’, the Government established a Task Group in September 1994 to make proposals for better targeted and more effective services for the long-term unemployed.  The Task Group in their Interim report in February 1995 continued the case for the establishment of an Employment Service to implement a strategy of preventing the drift into long-term unemployment and getting the long-term unemployed back into the world of work.  The Interim Report outlined the basis for a new Local Employment Service which would have the following features:

• The LES would provide a gateway for the unemployed person through which s/he can find training, education, guidance or placement as required.
• The service would bring together existing services and supports for the unemployed person in an integrated, focused and effective manner.
• It would provide a person-centred and planned response to meet the individual’s need and at the end of the day, must be able to place the individual in a conventional job or a special employment opportunity.
• The LES would have four broad priority groups for the service - the registered long-term unemployed, the registered unemployed for more than six months; dependent spouses of the unemployed, lone parents, young unemployed, NRB referrals.
• Registration is voluntary but a pro-active approach would be adopted in reaching out to those most in need of help in getting back to the world of work.
• FAS would provide a range of enhanced core services in its Offices, in support of the Local Employment Service.

An effective Employment Service and supports is the key policy instrument to deliver on an agreed policy framework.  This Service will include contributions from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs (DFSCA) Employment Support Service, the FAS Employment Service and the Local Employment Service.  Enhanced co-operation and complementarity between these services, linked also to the DSCFA welfare payment service is essential.

It is intended that the LES will maintain its specific local character and ethos, and continue to develop its specific role, expertise and engagement with its client target groups.  Apart from that role and consistent with the Employment Action Plan, it should also act as a referral point for particularly ‘hard to place’ unemployed people (who may need the intensive and frequently extended form of mediation which is a feature of the LES) identified through the systematic engagement process which will be delivered in the main through the FAS Employment Service.

The LES is an employment service that operates from a community development methodology which essentially stresses that the process through which individuals go through in their development is as important as the outcome.  A person who is long term unemployed does not only need a job but needs a range of skill and personal development to (a) apply for a job (b) to get the job (c) to get on the workplace (d) to keep the job (e) continue to progress on their career path and life long learning.  These are all achieved through a range of interventions ensuring the change that is needed to bring this about is as important as the end result.