Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 March 2004
207 Mr. McCormack asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if a directive has been given to FÁS employment offices regarding the employment of persons over 55 years on social employment schemes; the status of persons aged over 55 years now; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9648/04]
View answer208 Mr. McCormack asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the three year regulation concerning social employment schemes applies to persons who were already on a social employment scheme before the regulation came into effect on 3 April 2000 and work for a short period after that before the scheme finished and then had a break of more than 12 months; if the time that they worked on the previous scheme after 3 April 2000 affects their three years status when they are re-employed in a FÁS scheme more than a year later; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9649/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 207 and 208 together.
As part of the Government's decision in 1999 to restructure community employment , future participation in CE by an individual was capped at three years, effective from April 2000. All time worked on CE after this date is taken into account by FÁS when determining an individual's eligibility for the programme. Offshore island residents are exempt from the three year rule. This change was introduced to discourage repeated participation in CE and to encourage unemployed persons to avail of training-education options where possible, which are shown to have more successful progression outcomes for individuals.
The three year cap was amended in August 2001 to allow particularly disadvantaged persons to remain on the programme for a further period. Participants are considered for such an extension 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.
FÁS has discretion to give 20% of participants under 50 years of age extensions of up to one year to meet the needs of individuals who would clearly benefit from an extension in terms of their future employment prospects. In addition, up to 20% of participants over 50 may be given a further year on CE, with provision for review at the end of that year. Further discretion may be given to extend participation beyond this on a case by case basis, subject to continued annual review.
The future structure of CE is under review by a group of senior officials and FÁS. This group is expected to report to Ministers on the outcome of their deliberations in the near future. The outcome of this review will inform any future adjustments in the structure and the terms and conditions of participation on the CE programme.
