Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The then Minister for Finance announced the introduction of a community work placement initiative for up to 5,000 people in the Budget Statement to Dáil Éireann on 7 December 2010. The initiative, known as Tús, was launched on 21 December 2010 and work on developing the necessary implementation structures has been underway since then.

Tús will provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those unemployed for more than one year. The work placements will be offered by the not-for-profit, community and voluntary sectors. The initiative will contribute to the range of activation measures being developed by the Government. It is different to other initiatives such as community employment, in that it does not have compulsory training or progression elements. Its focus is on providing those unemployed for more than one year with a work placement opportunity.

The initiative will be delivered locally by each local development company and by Údarás na Gaeltachta in Gaeltacht areas. Some €30 million has been provided in my Department's Estimates in 2011 to fund the rollout of the initiative. Following the launch, my Department conducted two successful trials to develop the delivery mechanisms for Tús. One trial was based in the Coolock area of Dublin and run by the Northside Partnership with the other based in Mullingar, County Westmeath. A total of 119 people were randomly selected from the live register and offered the opportunity to participate. The results of both trials have been evaluated and have informed the development of the initiative. Internal procedures for the selection of people to participate have been finalised and are being issued to local office managers and staff to enable the selection of participants to commence in the coming weeks.

Promotion of Tús to potential work placement providers has been underway for some weeks as part of a process of identifying suitable work placements. Local development companies are currently recruiting supervisory staff which will provide for a phased rollout during the coming months with the full 5,000 placements to be made available by the end of quarter one, 2012. The target is to have 1,000 of these placements filled by the end of June.

See this speech in context