As the Deputy will be aware, customers of my Department who are engaged with the JobPath service have, from 1st June 2018, the option of taking up a placement on CE and Tús while continuing to engage with the JobPath service. This change ensures that jobseekers can benefit from the job-seeking support of the JobPath service while also availing of a part-time work placement provided by Tús or CE.
As the current selection process for JobPath excludes jobseekers categorised as self-employed including those actively farming or fishing, those eligible for RSS should not be impacted by this change once my Department is aware of their farming and fishing activities.
My Department's records indicate that since June 2018, 784 persons engaged on JobPath have taken up places on CE and 511 of those engaged on JobPath have started with Tús .
I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputies.