The Minister will be well aware of the situation in Laois-Offaly with the local employment job services and job clubs following the first tender process. She will also be aware that staff protesting there suspended their industrial action just before Christmas to engage with the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. The Minister’s Department has refused to engage in that process, which was proposed by the WRC. I ask the Minister to comment on that and on the situation in Laois-Offaly regarding the trade union.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Last May, my Department, under phase 1 of an expansion of employment services and in accordance with its legal obligations sought tenders for the provision of a new local area employment service in Laois-Offaly. I understand that existing job clubs providers in Laois-Offaly did not submit a tender for those counties, which removed any chance of them continuing to provide employment services in the area after the end of 2021. The outcome of this open and transparent procurement process was not contested by any party. I understand that all former job clubs' staff in Laois-Offaly were offered employment under existing terms and conditions by the new provider. I also understand that early last month the staff commenced training with the successful new provider. Accordingly, no one has lost employment or has seen any reduction in terms and conditions.

I am not aware of any Workplace Relations Commission recommendation on this matter. However, on 15 December 2021, the Workplace Relations Commission wrote to my Department regarding ongoing work stoppages in job clubs in Offaly and Laois. I understand that those stoppages related to protests concerning the procurement process generally and that no formal dispute has been registered with the new service provider. My Department is not the employer of any of its service partners' staff, nor is it a party to an industrial dispute with any of its service partners or their employees. It would therefore be inappropriate for the Department to engage in discussions at the WRC, which is a forum to resolve disputes between an employer and its employees. The Department has, however, advised the WRC that it is available to provide any information or clarification directly to the WRC, if required.

I understand that the new employer, Turas Nua, has had multiple meetings with representatives of SIPTU who said there was a collective bargaining agreement in place. This matter needs to be addressed with the employer, as the Deputy knows. A collective agreement is not compulsory under law, as I understand it.

The WRC is a forum for resolving employment issues which arise between an employer and its staff. The Department of Social Protection is not an employer of the staff concerned and it is not a party to any employment dispute. It would therefore be inappropriate for it to be directly engaged with the talks at the WRC. The Department has advised the WRC that it is available to support and assist it through clarifying, to the extent that it can, any questions that may be raised.

I know the Department is not the employer of the staff. I am sure the WRC knows that as well, but it has still invited representatives of the Department to attend the exploratory talks. It is disappointing that Turas Nua, which has won this contract, is failing to grant recognition. It may have had meetings and discussions but it is not willing to recognise SIPTU for collective bargaining agreements and purposes.

The Minister said the existing job clubs in Laois and Offaly had not applied. The Minister will be aware, however, that no job club survived the first tender process. She will also know, as she said it herself, that lessons were learned from the first tender process. Clearly, in many cases in that first tender process the local employment services and job clubs could not tender. That must be acknowledged, and the Minister will know it from speaking to people from the local employment services and job clubs on the ground. They were not in a position to tender in the first phase. While the next tender has had some improvements made to it, it means those involved in the first phase are now gone from the process. They are wiped out and that is also disappointing.

I ask the Minister to look at this issue, particularly regarding SIPTU’s collective bargaining involvement and the Department’s role in the context of being invited to talks by the WRC.

We have been down this road a few times regarding the local area employment services. The legal advice from the Attorney General is clear - these services have to be put out to tender. Community organisations won out in two of the three areas where they submitted bids under phase 1. That shows clearly that the community can win these contracts. As the Deputy is aware, the requests for tender for phase 2 were published in December. Following feedback, several changes were made in the request for tender, RFT, including increasing the marks awarded for quality to 80% and reducing costs to 20%. There is also a minimum cost component. We diluted the cost component and increased the referral numbers. The Deputy raised the matter of the requirement for reference contracts and minimum turnover, and they have also been reduced. We have, therefore, made a good number of changes to the process. We said we would take the lessons learned from the first phase and apply them to the second phase.