Vol. 502 No. 2
29 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will allow women who are signing for credits to have access to community employment where the husband's earned income does not exceed a certain reasonable threshold; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7443/99]
The community employment programme is designed to specifically target a severely disadvantaged group of unemployed persons, that is, those registered long-term unemployed whose principal or only source of income is an unemployment compensation payment or certain other social welfare means-tested payments. These are the persons who are at most disadvantage in the labour market. This targeting maximises the availability of places by part financing the programme from savings in social welfare payments. Married social welfare recipients can swap their entitlement with a spouse in order for that person to quality for community employment.
A decision to alter the criteria under which the programme operates to include persons not in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment would be contrary to the objective of community employment and also, given that the programme is operating at capacity level relative to available resources, at the expense of eligible persons waiting for a place on the programme.
Persons signing on for credits – who in many cases would have been in employment relatively recently – can access the FÁS employment services, with a view to getting employment. They can also participate in a return to work course, or other FÁS courses if places are available, if that is the appropriate course of action for the individual. They can also attend full-time education courses while retaining eligibility for credits.
