Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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817. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide an update on the number of people who are on the live register in each town in County Cork; the number of people on the live register for more than 24 months in each town in County Cork; the number of people who have been referred to the local area employment service in each town in County Cork since September 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27815/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There were 14,513 individuals on the Live Register in Cork in May 2023. Of these, 3,842 have been on the Live Register for 2 years or more. The breakdown by Social Welfare Office is shown in Table 1 and Table 2 below.

Table 1: May 2023 Live Register in Cork, by Social Welfare Office

Table 2: May 2023 Live Register in Cork with duration of two or more years, by Social Welfare Office

The Intreo Partner Local Area Employment Service is a new service intended to support people who are long-term unemployed clients farthest from the labour market with barriers to labour market participation and that warrant the provision of intensive employment support services, and are in receipt of a social welfare payment, and others that although not long-term unemployed are considered by the Department to warrant the provision of intensive employment support services.

This service was a result of a recent procurement process which saw Cork City Partnership lead a successful bid for the Lot 1 Cork area. The current Estimated Minimum Annual Referral figure for the Cork area contract is 2,410, and as of the 6th of June 2023 there have been 1,862 customers referred to the relevant providers within that catchment area since service commenced in September 2022.

It is important to stress that this represents a live commercial contract, with a minimum duration of three years remaining. The contract places obligations on the Contracting Authority and on the Contractor and some of the information contained if made public would place the State at a disadvantage both during the existing contract and should any future procurement be considered. Due to these considerations, it is not the intention of the Department to divulge details relating to referral rates by location except to confirm the level of referrals at overall Lot level.