Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2013, publiée 103ème session CIT (2014)

Convention (n° 88) sur le service de l'emploi, 1948 - Irlande (Ratification: 1969)

The Committee notes the Government’s report received in December 2012, including the annual report of the National Training and Employment Authority (FAS) and the 2012 Pathways to Work policy document. The Government indicates that it moved the employment service to the Department of Social Protection, placing both unemployment benefits and the employment service under the direction of the same authority. The Government refers to a five-point policy on labour market activation: (1) greater engagement; (2) better targeting; (3) incentivizing the take-up of opportunities; (4) incentivizing employers to provide more jobs; and (5) reforming institutions. It also lists a series of programmes to be implemented in order to achieve its policy objectives: an improved case management system; probability of exit (PEX) profiling to improve targeting; improving data collection and evaluation; reforming social protection benefits and lowering the VAT rates for labour-intensive sectors. The Government further refers to training, internship and support schemes aimed at aligning the active population with the needs of the economy. The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government with respect to the employment service activity. In particular, the Government indicates that FAS met its employment output targets in 2011 with over 163,000 people benefiting from training and employment support schemes. It further breaks down the number of training participants across a range of employment-related programmes. Overall, the Government reports that in 2011 there were 84,000 new registrations of jobseekers and the number of referrals by the Department of Social Protection to employment services was just over 121,000. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the measures adopted by the public employment service to achieve the best possible organization of the employment market and to meet the needs of the economy and the active population (Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention). It further invites the Government to provide information on the manner in which the representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations are consulted with respect to the implementation of employment service measures (Article 4). The Committee also asks that the Government continue to provide practical information on the application of the Convention, such as up-to-date statistical information on the number of public employment offices established, the number of applications for employment received, the number of vacancies notified, and the number of persons placed in employment by such offices in each region of the country (Part IV of the report form).