Teachers and students of the State’s main language and integration centre for immigrants protested outside the Dáil today over plans to close the service at the end of the month.
Integrate Ireland Language and Training (IILT), a non-profit Government-funded company that provides English language training to adult refugees and produces teaching materials for primary and secondary schools will close at the end of July with the loss of 44 jobs. It has 12 centres throughout the State.
The Department of Education has said it will integrate the service provided by the Trinity College campus company IILT into mainstream bodies such as the Vocational Education Committees (VECs).
Minister for Integration Policy Conor Lenihan told the Dáil today the 33 VECs were “delighted” to take on the challenge involved in taking over the services provided by IILT. Both Fine Gael and Labour had tabled questions on the matter.
Mr Lenihan said IILT had approached his department earlier this year “with a proposal to withdraw from direct tuition for adult refugees, and indeed, with a request that this tuition be mainstreamed”.
“I accepted that mainstreaming of service provision was appropriate as it accords with the overall approach to provision of services to migrants as set out in [Government policy],” he said.
He said it was decided that all direct tuition should be mainstreamed and provided by VECs as it would be “less efficient” that IILT would continue with a small element of provision for about 200 students.
Responding to a question from Denis Naughten of Fine Gael, Mr Lenihan said the question of the 40 jobs supported by IILT was a matter for negotiation between Siptu, the staff involved and IILT.
“I cannot dictate to the VECs that they should employ one person over another,” he said.
Mr Naughten claimed other services provided by the VECs would suffer as a result of the incorporation of the IILT services into the 33 centres throughout the country as no additional resources would be allocated.
The Minister insisted, however, that this would not be the case.
"There will be nobody at a loss because of this,” Mr Lenihan said.
Representatives of the Siptu trade union met with department officials in Athlone on Wednesday but said they had failed to secure any commitments on funding or redeployment for the 44 people who will lose their jobs.
Siptu branch organiser Chris Rowland said she believed that no thought appeared to have gone into the provision of alternative services to those provided by IILT.
“The Department does not seem to grasp that clients of IILT are not simply foreign language students coming here to learn English. Many of them are from very poor rural backgrounds and refugee camps. They are often illiterate in their native language and deeply traumatised.”
Ms Rowland said that if the Department did not reconsider its position, staff would consider all options, including industrial action.