1 November 2007 Edition
Sinn Féin meets FÁS Director General
Issues raised at that meeting included the training and re-skilling programmes FÁS is putting in place, or proposing, to enable those at risk of losing their jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors to access alternative employment opportunities. Morgan and Doherty quizzed Molloy regarding the provision of upskilling and training for jobless in unemployment blackspots such as Donegal and in areas recently effected by a string of job losses such as East Cork. The Sinn Féin representatives also raised with Molloy a number of specific recommendations contained in the 2006 NESF (National Economic and Social Forum) report on ‘Creating a More Inclusive Labour Market’. That report recommended that the eligibility criteria for FAS programmes be framed in terms of a person’s employability problems, rather than mainly on age and/or duration of unemployment as at present. It also recommended that FAS offer more flexible training in terms of times and locations and that it should put a particular focus on those in Part time and atypical work. Significantly this important NESF report also recommended that anticipatory training be provided for people working in vulnerable sectors in regions experiencing high levels of redundancies and that this be undertaken by FAS in co-operation with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland.