Vol. 422 No. 1
92 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Labour if his attention has been drawn to the fact that 60 per cent of the applications for FÁS Schemes throughout the country may not be dealt with due to the serious reduction in funds; if he intends to rectify this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I take it that the Deputy is referring to the Social Employment Scheme and Teamwork. Expenditure on the Social Employment Scheme this year is projected at £72.9 million which represents an increase of £4 million approximately on the 1991 expenditure figure of £68.943 million Expenditure on Teamwork will be £3.8 million approximately compared with £4.048 million in 1991.
The funding available for the Social Employment Scheme will allow the participation of an average of 11,300 participants each week with the actual number at any time varying depending on the number of projects in operation. Teamwork will provide opportunities for up to 2,000 participants this year.
FÁS has a responsibility to manage intake to these Schemes to keep within the overall budgets made available by the Exchequer. This can mean that projects seeking renewal may not automatically be accommodated or that renewals or new projects may not start as soon as sponsors would like. At the end of May there were 12,199 people participating in the Social Employment Scheme while 846 people were participating on Teamwork.
