Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the JobsPlus initiative, if a person is taken from the live register on either a one-year or two-year basis, the time includes any period spent on any of the Department's schemes such as the community employment scheme, the rural social scheme and JobBridge. For employers, this means that they are not just taking somebody who has been unemployed for two years or more. The people concerned might have been participants in a scheme and that is taken into account. I would like to see employers appreciating the work people do and the contribution they make if they are participating in a well-run community employment scheme. Community employment now lasts for a period of 18 months and we have developed a positive relationship with those running schemes. We are trying to expand the number of schemes available, but there is a difficulty in that regard owing to the difficulty with Garda vetting. Otherwise we could have activated up to 3,000 more people. Members of the committee will appreciate that in a community environment for the majority of positions available, particularly those dealing with children or vulnerably adults, Garda vetting of participants is required. The Minister for Justice and Equality is working on this issue. If we could clear the backlog in this area, we could have more people participating.

With regard to whether people can come off the JobBridge programme and participate in the JobsPlus initiative, the answer is yes.