European labour market conference attracts 20 member states

13 June 2007

A major European Union conference which highlighted a range of employment issues took place today in Belfast.

The conference focused on the EQUAL Initiative which is part of the European Union’s strategy for more and better quality jobs and ensuring that no one is denied access to them. Funded by the European Social Fund, this initiative has, since 2001, tested new ways of tackling discrimination and inequality experienced by those in work and those looking for a job.

Aideen McGinley, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Employment and Learning, in launching the conference, paid tribute to the contribution made by the EQUAL Initiative in piloting innovative ways of providing access to the labour market for disadvantaged groups in Northern Ireland.

Emphasising that the EQUAL Programme was a European wide initiative, she said: "The mainstreaming and dissemination of good practice must not only be looked at from a national perspective.  There is much to learn from colleagues in the other member states encountering similar problems of providing access to the labour market for all."

In congratulating the European Commission in providing funding to facilitate the sharing of good practice across all member states, she said: "This exchange event today, and the participation of twenty Member States, is evidence of the commitment that exists to ensure that the learning from the EQUAL programme is accessed by all involved in the Programme, across Europe."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. EQUAL is funded by the European Social Fund and operates between 2000 and 2008 with a total budget for Northern Ireland of €18million. There are two funding periods. The funding period from 2001 to 2004 supported six Development Partnerships and the current funding period in which the Engage Development Partnership operates runs from 2005 to 2008 and supports 13 partnerships.
  2. The programme is guided by a set of six principles which underpin the activity within EQUAL at Partnership, national and EU levels. These principles are Partnership, Thematic approach, Innovation Transnational working and Dissemination and Mainstreaming.   
  3. Media queries to the Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7872.

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