Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 November 2020
143. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of vacancies in community employment schemes; her plans to fill these vacancies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39112/20]
View answerCommunity Employment (CE) is a positive initiative that enables the long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling themselves for employment opportunities that will become available. The CE scheme can play an important role in breaking the cycle of long-term unemployment for some people and improve their chances of employment.
The 2020 CE Budget is €364 million. At the end of February 2020, prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, there were 21,131 participants on CE. At the end of October 2020 there were 19,244 participants on CE.
During the first phase of the Covid-19 emergency earlier in the year, my Department continued to provide the necessary funding for CE schemes while also introducing a number of contingency measures. These measures included the extension of all existing CE participant contracts for the duration of the emergency enabling many CE schemes and their CE participants to continue to deliver their range of services to the community.
Following the Government's introduction of Level-5 restrictions in October, the Department reintroduced these contingency arrangements and continued to provide funding for CE schemes. Department officials have been liaising with CE schemes to arrange for those participants who were due to finish during the period Level-5 restrictions are in place, to have their contracts extended until restrictions ease, unless a participant is taking up employment or reaches the State Pension age.
While referrals to CE schemes can continue in current circumstances, the number of referrals from Intreo Offices may be impacted by the need to deploy Intreo staff to other frontline duties and in order to comply with public health restrictions. During this period, CE sponsoring authorities are also being encouraged to continue to promote awareness of the benefits of CE in their local communities, ensuring that CE vacancies are well publicised. They can advertise CE their existing CE vacancies free of charge on the Department's JobsIreland website.
Once restrictions begin to be lifted there will be a renewed focus on identifying long-term unemployed candidates for available CE vacancies and to fill the additional places provided for under the July Jobs Stimulus.
I am fully committed to the future of this programme and will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of the CE participants and the valuable contribution being made to local communities.
