Vol. 429 No. 3
118 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the various conditions and restrictions imposed on the FÁS social employment schemes, particularly the Live Register requirement result in some excellent community projects not being able to get the full complement of workers despite the importance of the work being done; and if he has any plans for the introduction of alterations in this regard.
The social employment scheme is the principal manpower intervention aimed at providing opportunities for the long term unemployed on the Live Register and in receipt of unemployment compensation from the Department of Social Welfare. The eligibility criteria for the scheme reflect this focus and projects are approved on the basis that they will provide needed opportunities for long term unemployed persons. The scheme is not project driven and is not intended to provide assistance for organisations on an ongoing basis.
I have no plans to alter the eligibility criteria for the scheme at present.
119 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if he intends to introduce changes to the present FÁS social employment scheme and other schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I have no plans at this time to make changes in the schemes in question but their operation is, of course, kept under frequent review and should changes be needed, they would, within the constraints of available resources, be made.
120 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment when the social employment schemes and CEDP schemes organised by FÁS will recommence in the north Dublin area.
As I have already indicated to the House, an Exchequer allocation of £83.811 million has been made available for the social employment scheme/community employment development programme in 1993. This will allow for an average participation level of 13,500 compared with 12,000 in 1992. However, as there were in excess of 15,000 people on the scheme at the beginning of 1993, some disruption of projects and the slowing down of recruitment will be inevitable as FÁS must manage the scheme within the resources provided.
The processing of individual projects is a day to day matter for FÁS.
