Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In general on job activation schemes, CE, Tús and RSS but CE and Tús in particular, we have upscaled the numbers in the Department who are working on getting referrals in to sponsor organisations as well. The last two months have seen relatively good statistics around the numbers. Most of last year we were staying steady in the numbers of referrals. That is creeping up in the right direction now but we do still have vacancies in CE and in Tús. There have been some targeted measures but there is no holding back in pursuing people to engage in them, as well. Sometimes the placement is not suitable for the person. Sometimes the vacancies a sponsoring organisation has do not fit the people sent to them. Tús is when there are direct referrals, and there are still a few thousand vacancies in that regard, but there are ongoing efforts and there is now flexibility for the sponsoring organisation to look for and recruit a person themselves. Referral activity has gone up a lot in the past 12 months. That is more or less keeping us in a steady state at the moment but there is more flexibility for the sponsoring organisations too. We have done a couple of pilot projects for qualified adults. We have an increased number of qualified adults engaging in the schemes. We have 400 beneficiaries of temporary protection in Tús and CE combined and that number will probably climb over time. There have been a couple of test areas where we have literally rung people, and got them on the phone to encourage them towards schemes. They are very labour intensive but they tend to be quite successful in getting people in. We are proactive in pursuing people who have been very long-term unemployed as well. There are options there for them. They have not been forgotten; that is the message. There is proactive activity going on in relation to them.