Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Ireland (Ratification: 1967)

1. The Committee takes note of the Government's report for the period ending June 1988 and the appended documents.

2. The Committee notes that the primary element in the Government's strategy for job creation is to create an environment conducive to investment and economic growth, generated by fiscal and monetary policies. The Government takes the view that the several key features in the performance of the economy (real GNP rose by 5 per cent in 1987) will aid employment creation and thus lessen the high level of unemployment. The cornerstone of Government employment policy is the Programme for National Recovery, a plan for achieving growth along with the maintenance of social equity, agreed upon, in October 1987, by the Government, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Federated Union of Employers, the Confederation of Irish Industry, the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Farmers Association, the Young Farmers Association and the Irish Co-operative Society. One of the major strategies of the Programme, which is to extend to the end of 1990, is to create viable jobs in the legitimate economy and not in the "black economy" according to the report. In the creation of new employment, it divides the economy into sectors and contains a series of specific measures and job targets, in particular the creation of 20,000 manufacturing jobs per year over the next ten years.

3. The Government report also supplies information on developments concerning its labour market policies. The Committee notes that under the Labour Services Act, 1987, the Training and Employment Authority (FAS) was established in January 1988, and that it now deals with the roles previously performed by the National Training Authority (AnCO), the National Manpower Service and the Youth Employment Agency. The major concerns of the FAS are to provide or encourage training and retraining for employment, to provide assistance in obtaining work experience and to contribute to the process of job creation through employment schemes, public employment, self-employment and to provide job placement and guidance services for the unemployed.

4. The Committee notes, from the Government's report and more recent data (Quarterly Economic Commentary of the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, August 1984; 1989 OECD Economic Survey) that, after a slight fall in employment in 1987, the current employment picture appears to be a little more favourable. At the end of June 1988, the unemployment rate was 18.1 per cent, compared with a rate of 18.7 per cent in June 1987. Registered youth unemployment fell at a faster rate, but the number of unemployed aged 45 years or over increased, and about 45 per cent of the registered unemployed had been out of work for over one year. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the employment situation remains a matter of great concern. The level of unemployment is one of the highest of the European countries (well above the average estimated rate for the region at 10.2 per cent in 1988), despite high and rising net emigration rates and a decline in the labour force participants.

5. In view of the above, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would, in its future reports, provide information on progress made in attaining the employment objectives of the Programme, stating whether special difficulties have been encountered in this connection and indicating how far they have been overcome. Furthermore, it trusts that the Government will also forward copies of the discussion document announced in the Programme, which was to review legislative issues related to employment policies (unfair dismissal, employment equality, payment of wages); and the impact on employment creation of the measures taken by the Training and Employment Authority (FAS). The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to pursue, as a major goal, an active employment policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment in conformity with Article 1 of the Convention. It hopes that the Government will keep the measures taken for obtaining these objectives under close review, as required by Article 2 and that it will ensure, as required by Article 3, the necessary consultations with employers' and workers' organisations concerning the measures taken to implement the Convention.