Ms Helen Faughnan:

I will cover the questions in a general response. Deputy Daly referred to investment and the criticism from the OECD. It is estimated that €1.05 billion is being spent on employment support programmes in the Department, which represents 5.3% of total departmental expenditure. We are aware of the OECD report but do not accept the point about a lack of ambition. This is a new concentration for the Department of Social Protection in terms of its remit. The responsibility for FÁS and employment and community services moved to our Department at the beginning of last year. The criticisms of the community employment schemes, in terms of a progression, are valid. However, the remit of community schemes is to meet the social needs of communities. An enormous amount of beneficial work is being carried out through community employment, in the provision of services such as home-help, meals on wheels and so forth. These provide invaluable support to the economy and to the general public. It is a balancing act between trying to meet those needs and providing employment opportunities. We accept that in terms of progression, the ratio is probably 80:20, with 80% of the benefit on the social side and 20% on the progression to employment side. We are very conscious of that and are trying, with some of newer schemes we are putting in place, to address some of those concerns.

A question was asked about Cork County Council and we expect approximately 140 to 150 people to be involved in the Gateway scheme there. On the question of working for the dole, people are receiving a top-up payment on various schemes, including the Gateway scheme, the Tús programme, community employment schemes and so forth. Concerns have been voiced about the value for money to work but when one looks at the live register, one sees that approximately three quarters of those on the register are claiming a personal rate only. They do not have adult or child dependents so while the top-up payment is not a huge amount, any disincentive in terms of increases to adult or child dependent payments does not exist for them.

The amount of funding in place for the Gateway and JobsPlus schemes is substantial. The additional €20 per week, in the context of the overall fiscal contraction situation, is still a substantial investment in people. We would not push people to participate in the schemes if they would incur enormous travel expenses in doing so. However, we have found that many people are very happy to engage with this and they value the experience of working and getting back into the workforce.

We are reviewing all of the schemes to assess their impact. Senator Brennan asked when we will be reviewing the Gateway scheme. That scheme is only starting to get up and running so it will be next year before we can assess how it is evolving. We are actively engaging with 22 local authorities at present and hopefully we will progress to the remainder soon. We will review the scheme at some stage next year but we need to get it fully operational first in order to be able to learn from it.

Deputy Ryan asked whether there is any limit on the local authorities in terms of the Gateway scheme and the answer is "No". We want to engage with the authorities to ensure the take-up of the full number of places that are available. On the question of gender balance, while a lot of the positions seem to be focused on maintenance and outdoor activities, there is no bar on women taking up those positions. However, in terms of balanced gender involvement, there are a number of initiatives in place, including one concerning the historical recording of data. I am convinced that many of the fairer sex are quite happy to engage in the various initiatives in place. We are aiming to recruit men and women for the various schemes.

The issue of JobsPlus and engagement with employers was raised. We launched JobsPlus with one of the main companies involved in the south east, Eishtec. That company was fully involved in terms of recruiting. We held a stakeholder briefing on 24 June for employer bodies and representative associations involving the Institute of Directors, ISME, the National Recruitment Federation, Chambers Ireland and many other employer bodies.

We engage with chartered accountants because they see the benefit to their client businesses. We briefed the Oireachtas Members on 10 July 2013. We have run a number of jobs fairs, including in Dundalk, Balbriggan and Blanchardstown, and we had specific hospitality fairs in Kilkenny. We had stands at the National Ploughing Championship last week. Our staff on the ground are engaging with local employers and promoting all of this work. We will be conducting a six-month review to see if we need to publicise it more. The numbers signing up to it - more than 2,000 employees and 1,000 employers - show it is progressing well.

Deputy Daly asked about the number of employers who availed of the Revenue Job Assist scheme. Approximately, 1,700 employees and 800 employers availed of it in the past year. The number of employers and employees availing of JobsPlus exceeds that.

In terms of the drop in numbers for the mortgage interest supplement, we are not able to differentiate between house sales and a requirement to engage with the lender. The house sale condition was raised with us. There was a strong recommendation from one of the earlier groups, the Cooney group, to make that amendment. We put that in place last year.

Let me respond to Deputy Ryan's question on Fingal County Council. We hope to engage with Fingal County Council towards the end of this year or early next year before the county council comes on board. I will ensure our divisional managers who are engaging with councillors know we can provide briefings for the local representatives on how Gateway is progressing and on our engagement with the county councils. That might be useful for Senator Brennan.

Vetting is an issue that we have raised with the Department of Justice and Equality. Some people can be vetted a number of times - for example, a care worker, a person involved with scouts or a taxi driver. We understand the Department of Justice and Equality is examining the procedure.