Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 42, 45, 52, 57, 68, 168 and 191 together.

The Minister for Finance announced the introduction of a community work placement initiative for up to 5,000 persons 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 under way since. The aim of Tús is to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than one year. Some €30 million has been provided in my Department's Estimates in 2011 to fund the roll-out of the initiative.

Detailed conditions and rules to guide the operation of Tús have been developed with representatives of the local development companies and officials of my Department. These conditions and rules require that each local development company takes the necessary steps to guard against potential displacement of existing private or public sector service or worker displacements. Additionally, internal procedures for the selection of persons to participate have been developed and will be issued to local office managers and staff in the coming days. The random selection of participants by my Department will commence shortly as the necessary arrangements become operational at local development company level.

Promotion of Tús to potential work placement providers has been under way for some weeks as part of a process of identifying suitable work placements and local development companies are recruiting supervisory staff. This includes engagement with a number of national sports organisations, including the GAA, in respect of games development and related activities. With respect to the latter, my Department will make detailed proposals in the coming days with a view to finalising arrangements to enable participants to avail of games development opportunities across the country.

There are a number of significant differences between the operation of Tús and the community employment programme. In the main, these differences relate to the programmes' aims, participant selection, delivery, duration of engagement and training requirements. The amount paid to participants on both programmes will be similar and participants will continue to maintain their entitlement to certain secondary benefits. Equally, participants will be required to work 191⁄2 hours per week.

Other than tasks related to training, Tús will not have a compulsory training element, although training opportunities may be available from the range of initiatives delivered by local development companies. Travel and out-of-pocket expenses will not be payable, although every effort will be made to ensure work placements are available close to a participant's home. The target is to have 1,000 placements filled by the end of June, with the remainder being filled over the course of the next year.

See this speech in context