Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 January 2021
175. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will urgently review the community employment scheme eligibility criteria to address the nationwide recruitment crisis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4735/21]
View answerThe Community Employment (CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis.
The challenges caused by the Covid-19 public health restrictions introduced over the course of last year, including with the most recent return to Level-5 restrictions, has had an impact on the ability of a number of CE schemes to recruit new CE participants.
Throughout the onset of the Covid-19 emergency since last March 2020 and the resultant public health restrictions, my Department has continued to provide funding and support for CE schemes. This includes the extension of CE participant contracts, when Level 5 restrictions are in place. Department officials have worked with CE sponsoring authorities throughout the three waves of the Covid-19 emergency to arrange for CE participants who were due to finish on their respective CE schemes during these period, to have their contracts extended while the level-5 restrictions are in place, unless a CE participant is taking up employment or reaches the State Pension age. The latest CE contract extension date for those affected is the 26th March, 2021. When it is time for those CE participants to leave their schemes, this will be scheduled on a gradual, phased basis over a period of a number of months in conjunction with the CE sponsoring authorities.
Department officials have continued to fill CE vacancies where it has been safe to do so and CE sponsoring authorities are continually encouraged to promote awareness of the benefits of CE in their local communities, ensuring that CE vacancies are well publicised. They are also able to advertise their vacancies on the Department's JobsIreland website www.jobsireland.ie.
Once the existing restrictions have been lifted and the country returns to normal business operations there will be a continued emphasis on identifying suitable candidates for available CE vacancies.
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 through the provision of services.
