asked the Minister for Labour the number of people at present employed under the social employment scheme.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Social Employment Scheme.
8.
There are currently 6,156 persons employed in 1,637 projects under the social employment scheme.
The figure given by the Minister is 4,000 less than was hoped for. Will the Minister tell the House what his target is for 1986?
The target in the national plan was 10,000.
In 1985?
Yes. The scheme proper did not get off the ground until May. We have had delays in the take up in a number of areas. In fact, my Department have approved more than the 10,000 places provided for in this scheme. Tragically in some areas the call down on vacancies has been less than expected. In some cases, such as the Deputy's local authority area, tragically for the thousands of young people who are unemployed in Dublin city, the local authority have been unable to promote such schemes. The monitoring group have approved more than 10,000 places, including the 6,156 persons to date. Some local authorities and agencies have not yet drawn down the full allocation of places for which they applied and for which approval was granted. I am optimistic that we will reach the target of 10,000 in the middle of this year. I regret it has not proved possible to meet the target faster, despite the fact that the money and approvals have been made available by the Department of Labour.
Will the figure in the Estimate for 1986 carry 10,000 places for a full year?
Yes.
Will the Minister accept that the reason the target has not been reached is related to some of the anomalies raised under Question No. 6, the fact that there is a financial loss to married men and a danger that people cannot go to community welfare officers? Will the Minister accept that another reason is that there seems to be a difference from one Manpower agency to another as to what jobs are eligible under the social employment scheme? Will the Minister arrange to have that anomaly clarified so that all Manpower agencies will give the same replies as to the jobs that are available under the scheme?
The scheme makes provision for 10,000 places in any one year during the three year period of the plan. At least four times that number of people are eligible and receiving less money from the social welfare system than the 10,000 places we made provision for. When we constructed the scheme we were not of the opinion that there would be a shortage of numbers. I do not accept the point Deputy Owen is making. I am not aware of any discrepancies between different Manpower offices. They have received co-ordinated information from my Department through the director of the National Manpower Service. However, if the Deputy has experience of contrary advice I will be happy to have the matter corrected.