Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I refer to the selection of people for this initiative. The only detailed information I have is the response to the two pilot studies that were undertaken. The Deputy might be interested to know that of 119 people, 100 of them, or 84%, replied to the invitation to participate. Only one person left the live register and 71% of those contacted expressed an interest in participating. This confirms what we all know: the vast majority of people on the live register are anxious to participate in work or education. This is designed to assist those who have been more than a year on the live register to do that. Of those people, 58 were deemed suitable for placement immediately, 13 people did not show up for interview when called and 28 were deemed, as we would expect, to be more in need of educational assistance.

This is an opportunity. It does not impact on the existing CE places, or on other schemes managed by the Department. It is an additional initiative of 5,000 places. I have met many of the companies and there is a serious level of interest. This is an opportunity for a one year placement with the same sort of top-up that applies in CE. Interviews are being carried out for supervisors and the interest shown so far is very positive.

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