Vol. 438 No. 4
10 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, in view of the proposed community employment programme, the number of additional positions that will be created over and above those already on social employment schemes, community enterprise development programmes and Teamwork schemes; the training element of the proposed schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if, in relation to the recently announced community employment scheme, he will give the linkages that will be made between these temporary schemes and permanent employment.
26a.
asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the targets he has set as the basis for measuring whether the proposed expanded community employment scheme is proving worthwhile for participants.
39a.
asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment whether he expects the recently announced unemployment alleviation schemes to have an impact by way of long term reduction in the numbers on the live register; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
39b.
asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if, in relation to the recently promised 40,000 participants on community employment, he will give a breakdown showing the number of the 40,000 who are already accommodated in existing schemes, the number of persons on existing schemes who will be incorporated into the new schemes and the net number of new jobs to be created in this financial year.
54a.
asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if, in relation to the recently announced community employment scheme, he will give the linkages that will be made between these temporary schemes and permanent employment.
56a.
asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if, in relation to the recently promised 40,000 participants on community employment, he will give a breakdown showing the number of the 40,000 who are already accommodated in existing schemes, the number of persons on existing schemes who will be incorporated into the new schemes and the net number of new jobs to be created in this financial year.
63 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the targets he has set as the basis for measuring whether the proposed expanded community employment scheme is proving worthwhile for participants.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 19a, 26a, 39a, 39b, 54a, 56a and 63 together.
Community employment which will commence on 1 March 1994 is a developmental and social employment programme which will both subsume and constitute a qualitative upgrading of the existing social employment scheme, the Community Employment Development Programme and Teamwork. There were 23,876 participants on these three programmes at the end of December 1993 who will transfer as appropriate to the new programme and the target is to increase this number to 40,000 by the end of the year. Community employment will build on the experience and strengths of the three existing programmes and will provide part-time work opportunities in areas such as community services and other necessary activities for persons who may not otherwise be likely to enter gainful employment.
The programme will give participants a better chance to compete for long term jobs as they become available by enabling them to stay in touch with the labour market, practise work skills and learn new skills. Development modules will be phased in over 1994-95 for participants on projects of 11 participants or more and amalgamation of smaller projects to reach this level will be facilitated by FÁS. Development modules will include personal-employment skills, technical skills relating to project work and support for own time development.
Community employment will be open to persons 21 years or over in receipt of unemployment assistance, persons in receipt of unemployment benefit for over one year, persons in receipt of lone parent's allowance for over one year and other special categories such as those referred by the National Rehabilitation Board. Eligibility is not restricted to persons on the live register although it is likely that the bulk of participants will come from the live register.
The Deputies can be assured that the operation of the programme will be kept under review to determine if it is meeting its objectives of assisting persons who are long term unemployed regain a foothold in the labour market having regard to economic conditions generally.
Will the Minister agree that, in the context of the much leaked proposals in the budget, this one has turned out to be one of the major disappointments? There may be a necessity for a press officer in the Department of Enterprise and Employment and to correct the Irish Independent. For example, is the Minister aware that on 19 January this was published as: “a major——
Sorry, Deputy, quotations are not in order now.
The Irish Independent is the flavour of the month.
Thank you, Sir. I will not quote but it said there was a major plan to create 40,000 training places and job opportunities. Instead the number has turned out to be 16,200 because all the existing SES and CEDP people are included. Will the Minister acknowledge that this will make no dent on the scale of the unemployment black spots? Will he agree that when he was chairman of an all-party committee during the last Dáil the proposal was to create 50,000 such posts? Will he reassure the House on the precise arrangements made in terms of incorporating the provision for the training element which will be necessary and say how much is funded from Europe? Finally, is the big deficiency of the scheme not the fact that once again the people concerned are turfed back on the dole queues after 12 months on the scheme? The CMRS proposal and the proposal put forward by Democratic Left sought to create a structured programme which would break the cycle of unemployment and provide a better opportunity for people to get back into some kind of sustainable work.
The Deputy asked a number of questions to which I will try to reply. First, I am not accountable for the accuracy or otherwise of Independent Newspapers. The Deputy should perhaps spread his custom around other newspapers if he wishes to avail of such information——
I will not be able to do that soon if the Minister does not act under the mergers and monopolies Act.
If such an application comes before me the Deputy can be assured that I will act.
In regard to the numbers, the programme is a qualitative change on what already exists. Like other Deputies, the Deputy will be aware that building-in and working-up to numbers as extensive as 40,000 will take time. It makes sense to integrate those on the existing three programmes, Teamwork, the CEDP and the SES. Of course, we would like to have more places and it is my intention to look for more as we gain experience. This will require us to look in an innovative way at locations for such employment throughout the country. I will come back to the House in respect of that in due course. As both the Deputy and I learned from our time on the all-party committee, the capacity and demand for such employment is enormous, and in excess of 40,000. Nobody in this House, least of all me and my two colleagues, would disagree with that.
With regard to funding, apart from the training element very little of the scheme is directly funded by the European Union — the rest does not fall to be funded from the European Union in the normal course of events. The final details in respect of the exact programme have not yet been finalised with the Commission.
The reference to people being on the scheme for one year is no longer accurate as some people will be able to stay on it for two years and we hope others will be able to stay on it for three years. The intention is to ensure that people enter a path where they can progress from one step of employment to another until hopefully they finally gain full time long term employment. Our experience from the social employment scheme is that at least 25 per cent of the people participating in it go on to full time employment in either the public or private sectors. I hope that the introduction of the development module will facilitate and assist people to make that progression and transition into full time employment. The responsibility for such training will be carried by FÁS.
I will confine my supplementary to the point made by the Minister about one year participation on the course. Is it not the case that the leaflet distributed by the Minister on budget night expressly stated that participation was for only one year and that there would be what he called a limited opportunity to extend that period where FÁS agreed? The phrase used was "and may be re-engaged by sponsors for a second year with the agreement of FÁS in the following limited circumstances". It talks about a couple of supervisors, etc., which is extremely limited. I accept the Minister's good wishes and good intentions in the matter but it seems the experience will be the same as that in regard to the SES and CEDP schemes.
I earnestly hope that the experience will not be the same and that we have all learned from the operation of the existing schemes, particularly the SES which has been running for more than ten years. In cases where the sponsor indicates clearly that a participant would benefit from another year on the programme that person will be able to stay on it. I am looking at the cost implications of this and trying to match the desires of people who are not currently at work and who wish to participate in such a programme with the availability of spaces, as against the desirability of allowing someone to continue for a second or, as in some cases, a third year if it meets both their needs and those of the sponsor.
We must now come to deal with other questions.
