Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 September 2021
414. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if the community employment scheme that had been extended from 2020 to 31 October 2021 will be extended further due to the continued public health restrictions that were imposed on many aspects of the operations of her Department. [45102/21]
View answerCommunity Employment (CE) is an active labour market programme providing 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.
As the Deputy is aware, as with most other sectors of society, CE schemes were impacted by the public health restrictions introduced since the onset of COVID-19. My priority was to ensure CE schemes and participants were fully supported during this period. While some schemes were able to maintain services while complying with public health restrictions, this was not always the case. In both scenarios, CE participants, whose contracts were due to end during periods of public health restrictions, had their contracts extended on a number of occasions, most recently up to end October 2021.
With the successful roll-out of the vaccine programme and in line with Government’s plans for the full re-opening of the economy, under 'Reframing the Challenge, Continuing Our Recovery and Reconnecting’ my priority and the priority of the Department is to have all CE and Tús schemes back providing normal services and supports to unemployed participants while delivering vital services to local communities.
As part of this return to normal operations, a phased and planned schedule of exits for CE and Tús participants, some of whose contracts have been extended for up to year, will commence in November 2021. I can reassure the Deputy that the exits will be carried out in a phased basis between November and May 2022. This means that many participants’ contacts will be extended beyond the end of October.
These final contract extensions will provide all CE participants with an opportunity to complete any outstanding training while also benefitting from further work experience on CE. The coordinated and phased exit approach will also support the recruitment of new CE participants while ensuring the ongoing delivery of important local community services.
In order to ensure that all employment and activation programmes have the best outcome for participants, CE will continue to be made available to support those who are long term unemployed and furthest removed from the labour market, including those whose employment has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 emergency. New places are also being assigned to a number of CE and Tús schemes, delivering on a key Government commitment under Pathways to Work.
I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.
