Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Since this is the last day of this Dáil session, I look forward to seeing the Deputy here regularly when we return in September.

The Government supports the community employment programme which plays an important role in the provision of crucial services for rural and urban communities. There are 1,143 community employment schemes in operation nationally. Of the 23,300 places available, approximately 22,000 are for participants, while approximately 1,400 are full-time supervisor posts. The overall estimated budget for the community employment scheme in 2012 will be approximately €340 million.

As part of the requirement to fix the hole left in the public finances by Fianna Fáil, it is necessary to examine all aspects of expenditure across every Department. It was against this background that the financial review of community employment schemes got under way a couple of months ago. The main objective of the review was to identify areas where savings could be achieved through efficiencies in order that the best use could be made of available funds. As a result of the review, significant savings have been made in the overheads of community employment projects in terms of annual insurance costs and audit fees. The savings will increase next year as some projects had incurred these costs prior to the introduction of the new arrangements. Under the revised arrangements, schemes will no longer be given universal amounts of financial support. Instead, they will be provided with a specific level of support aimed at meeting the particular costs necessarily incurred by the individual scheme, having regard to the overall level of funding available to the community employment programme nationally.

The materials and training budget for the community employment programme has been increased by €9.5 million from the original budget of approximately €11 million, following savings identified elsewhere in the budget of the Department of Social Protection. The new materials and training budget is thus €20.5 million. Each community employment scheme has been notified of its revised materials and training allocation based on the amounts recommended by the Department's divisional staff, following consultations with schemes. The majority of schemes have indicated satisfaction with their revised allocation in these difficult economic times. In addition to the training allocation for schemes, community employment scheme participants may also access a number of Springboard, vocational educational committee and FÁS courses free of charge. As a result of the community employment scheme review process, the Minister for Social Protection has also introduced an appeals mechanism for schemes which believe they are unable to survive on the new allocations for training and materials.

It is also worth noting that a separate policy review of labour activation schemes is under way. This review which is nearing completion will also help to inform the Department's strategic approach to these schemes, including community employment schemes.

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