Mr. Darragh O'Connor:

I thank the Chair and the members of the committee for agreeing to hear our presentation on the challenges facing community employment schemes and the future direction of community employment. On my right is Mr. David Connolly, community representative on the NEC of SIPTU, next is Ms Doreen O'Connor, a child care worker, Mr. Briscoe, a CE supervisor.

I will give a brief overview of community employment. It is Ireland's principal labour market programme, with the aim of enhancing the employability and mobility of the long term unemployed by providing employment opportunities for them in their communities. It aims to facilitate them to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment. In addition, it assists them to develop both their technical and personal skills which can be used in the workplace. Community employment involves a part-time work placement with an employer or sponsor in a community based setting and operates in both urban and rural areas of disadvantage. It is by far the biggest programmes of its kind in Ireland. There are approximately 23,300 CE workers carrying out valuable work in communities all around the country. There are currently 1,123 CE programmes in operation. Community employment also provides a range of vital community services.

Community employment is an effective means of addressing long-term unemployment by providing accessible and appropriate opportunities for employment and training. Through participation in community employment in a supported community based environment, CE workers can regain confidence and acquire new skills to help them re-enter the active labour marker. It also plays an important role in helping to realise equality and inclusion for many who find themselves disadvantaged. Participation on CE is drawn from the live register and, consequently, often represents those at greater risk of marginalisation from society, work and learning.

In evaluating CE, it has been noted that CE schemes have had a number of attractions for disadvantaged groups such as lone parents, including flexibility, a strong social dimension and service orientated work.

The personal gains for participants, such as increased social interaction and integration, growth in self-confidence and self-esteem, and the holistic development of the individual, have also been acknowledged. A preliminary cost-benefit analysis by Fitzpatrick Associates in 1995 found that the benefits from community employment participation were 90% greater than the net cost of the programme. In 2008, over 44% of community employment workers progressed into employment or further education and more than 30,618 training awards were made to community employment workers, including Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC and Higher Education and Training Awards Council, HETAC, awards. The total estimated individual benefits from qualification awards in that year was €12,580,300.

There are 184,800 long-term unemployed people and any reduction of funding for community employment negatively impacts on the abilities of schemes to provide training and educational opportunities for unemployed people and other disadvantaged groups. Community employment is the backbone of the community sector, providing nearly one third of the total employment. Child care projects, youth projects, disability projects, elder care, arts, sport and cultural schemes, to list but a few, are dependent on community employment workers. The 1995 Fitzpatrick Associates cost-benefit analysis found that local development benefits accounted for 64% of the overallvalue of community employment. In community child care, for example, 1,288 of 8,200 child care workers in community-based child care facilities are community employment workers, and it is estimated that over 70% of those are lone parents. There are 2,200 community employment places ring-fenced for child care, 1,000 for drug rehabilitation and 2,800 for health and social care.

Community employment has an intrinsic social value. The review of labour market programmes carried out by Forfás found that:

Community Employment activity provides economic and social benefits to communities around the country in terms of providing services that would otherwise be lacking - especially those in disadvantaged areas. It provides support for several hundred community organisations, local councils, VEC's, Drug Task Forces, the HSE, Semi-State bodies and national charitable organisations.

A 2011 paper by the Combat Poverty Agency, entitled Combating Social Disadvantage in Social Housing Estates, found that: "The Community Employment scheme is a core element of much of the area-based social provision now in place in Ireland and its contribution in that regard should be more clearly recognised and incorporated into the rationale for providing it and the bases on which it is evaluated." It is clear that community employment provides vital services in every sector of society, especially in areas of disadvantage, and the removal of these services through further cuts to community employment would have a devastating impact on communities.

In December 2011, the Government announced a reduction in the community employment budget in the order of €36 million, in the form of a 66% reduction in the materials and training allocation. It also announced that the retention of secondary payments for those with a disability and for lone parents would cease for all new community employment entrants from February 2012. Following the announced cuts, community employment workers, supervisors and sponsor groups, supported by SIPTU, campaigned and lobbied Deputies and councillors throughout the country to have funding restored. A financial review of all community employment schemes was announced by the Minister, which took more than seven months to complete, during which time schemes faced uncertainty and financial difficulties and many community employment workers were unable to complete training modules.

On completion of the review, the Department of Social Protection announced the reallocation of €9.5 million to community employment budgets for 2012 which, although broadly welcomed, is still in the order of a 30% to 40% cut. There is also huge variation in terms of grant allocations. Many schemes are still under extreme financial pressure and face uncertain futures. There has been no adjustment of the cuts to secondary benefits. The impact of this decision is twofold. First, for lone parents and people with disabilities, community employment is no longer a financially viable path to employment and training, which has limited their options for re-entry into the workforce and training. Second, many community employment projects, especially in child care and drug rehabilitation, are dependent on community employment workers who were in receipt of an additional social welfare payment. We now have a situation where many community employment projects are unable to recruit suitable workers, placing their future viability in doubt. Community child care projects, for example, will have to reduce capacity or even close if a solution cannot be found.

SIPTU activists have been campaigning tirelessly all year against cuts to community employment and to protect schemes and community services. This has been done through visiting Deputies, proposing parliamentary questions, lobbying councillors, organising community employment open days and promoting community employment through local media. We call on the Government to ensure community employment workers have access to high quality, accredited training, that placements are for three years to facilitate training and valuable work experience, that lone parents and people with disabilities are facilitated financially to cover their additional expenses in accessing community employment, and that vital community services are protected. We call for meaningful negotiations between the Department of Social Protection, SIPTU, as the workers' representative body, and relevant stakeholders on the future shape of community employment schemes and to agree reforms with workers, supervisors and sponsors. In that context, the Department's recent announcement that an employment schemes advisory committee would be established to advise the Minister on the implementation of the upcoming labour market review is welcome.

There is not a town in Ireland that does not benefit from community employment. Not only does it provide local services, it also gives people an opportunity to work, achieve a qualification and give something back to their community. In areas of disadvantage in particular, community employment can be a second chance for people. We must ensure community employment continues to provide this worthwhile service. I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for their time and am happy to answer any questions they may have.