Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Participants take up a JobBridge scheme place for a period of six to nine months. It is a short scheme designed to give people a kick-start where they have a particular qualification but are unable to gain work experience in the economy. People who gain decent work experience under the scheme have something substantial to include in their CV and present to potential employers. In fact, the evidence shows that, in many cases, they are retained by the host organisation. In the case of a small business, for example, there might be an intention to take on an additional employee at some time, but the decision is only really made when the owner or manager sees how a particular individual can add value to the business.

In the case of community employment schemes and Tús, on the other hand, the objective is that people have an educational and training experience that will result in their obtaining qualifications and certifications which will make them more attractive to prospective employers. For instance, my Department has been working very diligently all year to devise an educational programme for child care and other care areas. My ambition is that everybody who takes up a place under that programme will emerge with at least a FETAC level 5 qualification. It is a combination of qualification plus hands-on child care experience in a properly supervised environment. Community crèches have a very good structure of management, as anybody who is familiar with them will know. If we have the certification and education process alongside the work experience element, we will, at the end of the process, have a person who is very employable. Many participants in the scheme will go on to obtain employment through the Department's community support programmes, under which we support the social economy throughout the country in different areas. Some might go on to become assistant supervisors or supervisors in a community-based facility, which is a good employment outcome in itself.

In regard to the local authority scheme, I have been saying to managers that I would like to see participants being considered for local authority vacancies as they arise. In the cycle of time, we envisage that people who partake in the scheme will be in a good position to secure employment in local government services. I have yet to see exactly what types of employment opportunities the local authorities have in mind. We are looking to countries such as Finland and Sweden as an example, both of which also experienced major bank crashes, although admittedly not as disastrous as ours or as disastrously handled in the form of the bank guarantee. One of the elements that comes through strongly in the initiatives in these countries, as it does in all of the discussions in Europe on the youth guarantee, is that it simply makes enormous sense for the State to invest in people's education and training.

In all cases, whether it be the community employment, Tús or local authority scheme, the ultimate objective is to put in place a developmental path for the individual. Participants are contributing and participating in work that is of benefit to their community, the payback to them being that they acquire work experience, while also enjoying an investment in their education and training. Since taking over this whole area my officials and I have been learning as we go along in the case of JobBridge and Tús. In the case of community employment schemes our focus is on putting in place a robust framework. The work is mostly done on the child care programme, as I said, which will see people emerging after two to three years of community employment experience with a FETAC level 5 qualification. That is the model I wish to employ because it offers a huge plus for individuals and their families.