Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 January 2019
551. Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if clarification will be provided on the purpose of the establishment of an interdepartmental group aimed at examining the overall organisational and governance arrangements for community employment sponsor organisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3820/19]
View answerMy Department operates a number of employment support schemes including Community Employment, CE, JI and the RSS. These schemes have a very significant social inclusion focus, are well embedded in our local communities nationally and are generally engaged in significant levels of local service support and delivery.
The RSS and JI are considered to be Social Inclusion placements, whereas the CE placements are categorised into two strands, Social Inclusion and Activation. The Activation placements provide unemployed individuals with work experience, training and development to assist them achieve sustainable employment. The Social Inclusion placements are more suited to adults who need additional supports, e.g. older unemployed workers, persons with a disability, travellers, homeless people, refugees, those requiring drug rehabilitation and ex-offenders. The expected pace of progression from a social inclusion placements is much lower than that of a participant in an activation placement.
I sought the agreement of Government to establish an Interdepartmental Group to explore the most appropriate organisation arrangements, including which Department should host the Community Employment Social Inclusion placements, Drug Rehabilitation and Childcare CE schemes as well as the Rural Social Scheme and the Job Initiative scheme, as I believe that we need to establish an appropriate home and structure for these social inclusion placements.
I believe that we need to take a wholly inclusive approach for people who participate in CE and to include an appropriate focus on their ongoing contribution to the provision of services in local areas.
My Department’s main focus, as a Public Employment Service, has to remain on activation and to progress as many participants as possible from CE into full-time and sustainable employment. It is also my strong view that local services which are supported by these social inclusion placements must be safeguarded into the future.
