Remarks at the INOU Annual Delegate Conference
25th May 2012
A Chairde,
Tá áthas an domhain orm an deis seo a fháil chun labhairt ag an gComhdháil Bhliantúil d’Eagraíocht na hÉireann do Dhaoine Dífhostaithe agus ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis na heagraithe as cuireadh a thabhairt dom teacht anseo inniu.
I greatly welcome this opportunity to address the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed Annual Conference and would like to thank the organisers for inviting me here today.
Your Mission Statement commits you to representing and defending the rights and interests of those who want decent employment and cannot obtain it.
You also seek to promote and campaign for policies to achieve full employment for all. I have spoken before of my vision of an inclusive citizenship based on equality, respect, solidarity and participation, and promoting inter-generational and inter-community solidarity as a critical means to overcome our present difficulties. The INOU and other similar bodies are working to make that vision a reality.
Regrettably, as you are all too well aware, we now find ourselves once again in a time of chronically high unemployment. It is in these harsh times that people and their families fall into poverty and experience deprivation, isolation and social exclusion. Unemployment, and particularly long-term unemployment, has affected far too many of our people – both young and old, male and female, highly educated people and those less well educated. It has particularly impacted on the young, and not just in Ireland. The statistics for youth unemployment across Europe are a matter of the greatest concern. However, lest we be immobilised by despondency, we must remind ourselves that our country has experienced periods of high unemployment before and has subsequently returned to a period of prosperity and near full employment. It is by working together towards a better future that we have come through recessions in the past and it is by working and supporting each other now that we will get through this period of adversity.
In the short time that I have been President of Ireland, I have visited many groups and seen first-hand the work that is being carried out in our communities by both voluntary and paid workers. What I have seen in people is their determination, their resourcefulness and their ability to work together to bring about changes – changes that are positive and reflect what is possible for us as an inclusive society where people have the opportunity to participate in a practical and meaningful way.
I believe that when we promote participation by all our citizens and encourage the release of the innate creativity of our people, we also lay the groundwork for economic recovery and for increased and sustainable employment in our communities.
New thinking and creativity will be a key requirement in helping us to respond to the current unemployment problem. A return to the discredited model of an aggressively speculative economy that prioritised the maximisation of short-term profits will not serve us well. To get our people back to work and to keep them in productive employment requires a new model of economy that, as well as being productive and efficient, is also innovative, sustainable and fair.
But on a more profound level, we also need to rethink the relationship between economy and society; we need to imagine an Ireland where the economy serves our society and not the other way round; we need to ensure that our business models reflect our ethical values as a people with a proper emphasis on the importance of social cohesion and community solidarity.
None of these reflections may be of much comfort to those who are currently out of work and are having difficulty finding employment - the 300,000 who are classed as being unemployed in this State and are right now looking for help and for hope. To lose one’s job is deeply traumatic; the person concerned must ensure that the rights attached to the former employment are vindicated and must be resilient in the search for new employment. In this regard, I welcome the recent resolution of the Vita-Cortex dispute, commend all those who facilitated the settlement and wish the workers well as they set about finding employment.
Effective measures are needed to prevent people drifting into long-term unemployment and help them back to work. Getting from unemployment back to work is challenging and, as you know too well, the longer a person is unemployed the more difficult it is. Staying close to the workplace through education, training, volunteering, internships and maintaining the search for work is essential.
In some cases, people who have lost their jobs require either re-training or upskilling to be able to access the job market. Re-skilling is essential in meeting the needs of a global economy that is constantly evolving, advancing our economic recovery and, above all, getting our talented people back to work.
The loss of contact with the workplace is more than a financial loss for many, as it also includes the loss of professional interaction, experience, skills deployment and improvement. Social interaction and relationships in the work place are part of the fabric of our life, and lend a structure and rhythm to our days. Maintaining the link to the world of work is vital at a time when job opportunities are scarce. Some of the initiatives introduced by the Government offer people the opportunity to stay close to the job market in times when getting a paid job may not be feasible in the short or medium term.
Unemployment does not have to result in cultural exclusion: our public libraries provide, for example, easy access to a wealth of knowledge through books, information technology and free educational programmes. Learning, individually and collectively can be a vital source of energy for those struggling with the loneliness that unemployment can bring.
We also need to think about how we classify work. Is work only of social value if it can be termed as employment? Does unpaid work – whether in the home or the community – have the same dignity and earn the same respect as employed labour? Most people will acknowledge that the work that is done as a family carer or as a community volunteer is absolutely essential if we are to have a healthy and caring society. If that is the case, we must adequately recognise the value of that vital work; we must ensure that we speak about it in the same respectful way as we do of paid employment; we must find innovative ways of financially supporting that work which confers such social benefit.
And if we did all of that, would we really have 300,000 people regarded as unemployed in the State or would be reclassifying thousands of them as engaged in work that is of clear social value. The historian and political commentator the late Tony Judt posed the following questions in 2010:
“Why do we experience such difficulty evening imagining a different sort of society? Why is it beyond us to conceive of a different set of arrangements to our common advantage? “
Are we doomed indefinitely to lurch between a dysfunctional ‘free market’ and a statist command economy? Are there not other models of economy and society?
Perhaps it is time to start imagining what a labour market for a caring and sharing society should look like – one that embraces the social economy as well as the market economy; one that places a real value on maintaining a flourishing society as well as an efficient economy; one that understands that real personal fulfilment is as much about community participation as it is individual achievement. If we imagined and planned for such an accommodating and inclusive labour market, the objective of full employment would be far more achievable than we currently assume.
The fresh innovative form of organisation that co-operatives, for instance, contributed historically had a different philosophical make-up built on democracy, mutuality and service, which gave the co-operative model its unique identity, defining its relationship with both its members as well as non-members.
In the new social economy we will need models like the co-operative model which encourage people to work together using their talents, to proactively participate and contribute in their community, models constructed on the basis of collective welfare, which operate on the principles of solidarity, partnership and collaborative endeavour.
I would like to acknowledge the contribution made by the INOU to address the real problems experienced by unemployed people, both at a policy and practical level. In particular, the publication “Working for Work” which provides information on key welfare, work, education and training options for unemployed people has proven to be an indispensable resource for those who find themselves dependent on the state for income and who may be faced with a complex array of eligibility criteria, means-tests and conditions. I also commend the innovative approaches that the INOU have adopted in communicating information in a targeted and effective manner - specifically the use of more modern communication methods, such as social media, which shows a citizen centred approach.
There are no simple solutions to the current crisis. However, the problem of persistent joblessness must not be seen as intractable and we must guard ourselves from the cynical and defeatist view that high unemployment and mass emigration are part of our national condition. We are a proud and resourceful people. We must draw on a combination of past experiences, resourcefulness and creativity to make sure that real progress is made in eradicating the menace of high unemployment from Irish society. And we must be open to new ideas and original thinking about how we organise and manage our labour markets so that they best serve the needs of our society, as well as our economy. It is my hope that the discussions that have taken place today will be a stimulus for solutions that are born from the creativity that is the hallmark of the Irish people.
Mar fhocal scoir, ba mhaith liom ómós speisialta a thabhairt do na daoine a oibríonn le chéile chun teacht i gcabhair ar dhaoine dífhostaithe. Má chuirtear an spreagadh, an tacaíocht agus na deiseanna cuí ar fáil, tá ar chumas gach duine in aois fostaíochta, i bhformhór na gcásanna, cur go mór lenár bpobal agus lenár dtír. Dá bhrí sin, ba cheart go dtabharfaí an dínit a bhaineann le hioncam dóibh ionas gur féidir leo páirt a ghlacadh sa sochaí. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach nach mbíonn daoine in ísle brí maidir leis an domhain oibre mar d’fhéadfaí go mbeadh drochéifeacht aige seo ar a gcuid dóchas fostaíochta agus a bhféinmheas pearsanta.
In conclusion I want to pay particular tribute to the people who work together to help those who are unemployed. Given the right level of encouragement, support and opportunity, every person of working age has the ability, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, the real human desire to make a meaningful contribution to their community and our country. In return, they should be afforded the dignity of an income that will allow them to participate fully in society. In particular, it is important that young people do not become estranged from the world of work as this can have a damaging effect on both their employment expectations and their personal self-esteem.
I would like to acknowledge the tireless work of the many public, private, community and voluntary bodies represented here today, who are operating in an extremely difficult environment of austerity and increasing demands for their services. In facing up to these pressures, it is very important that you don’t retreat into your respective organisational silos but continue to maintain a partnership approach that best serves the needs of our citizens who are unemployed. In particular, I want to wish the INOU every success in their efforts to keep the concerns and the needs of the unemployed at the top of the policy agenda.