Vol. 552 No. 1
72 Mr. Creed asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the situation regarding entitlement to participate in the community employment schemes for over three years; and when this three year period commenced in respect of those who are currently on community employment schemes and were so employed prior to the recently announced changes. [11481/02]
The new guidelines for the future operation of community employment were introduced in August 2001, and were effective from that date. FÁS now has discretion to extend, on a case by case basis, an individual's term on CE, having regard to that individual's personal development needs and future employment prospects.
Participants are considered for an extension under the new arrangements if on reaching the end of their normal entitlements on CE they are likely to experience difficulty in getting employment. A number of CE participants have difficulty in progressing to open labour market employment due to their age, literacy or numeracy problems or a lack of suitable jobs available locally. For such participants FÁS now has discretion to offer a further period on the programme on a case by case basis. In general, approximately 20% of participants on CE may benefit from an additional year on the programme under the new flexibility guidelines.
