Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Gateway is a work placement initiative for county and city councils. The initiative aims to improve the employability and maintain the work readiness of those who have been unemployed for 24 months or more. Similar to Tús, participants are selected by a random process conducted by the Department of Social Protection from people in receipt of a jobseeker's allowance payment for two years or more. The selected jobseekers are informed when they have been selected and, if they agree to participate, have their contact details passed to the relevant county and city council.

Responsibility for delivery of this initiative rests with individual county and city councils. Sufficient resources are available to provide for 3,000 placements. So far, just over 1,500 places have been identified in 29 councils in the initial phase of the roll-out. Progress on the roll-out has been slower than anticipated. Delays in the main relate to the ongoing staff restructuring processes of county and city councils, the need to engage with stakeholders, particularly in the county councils, and operational matters relating to securing resources, identifying work and supervisory cover, as well as Garda vetting with which there were very long delays until September. However, despite these obstacles, the initial placement of participants on Gateway will commence in Louth County Council in early December. Limerick county and city councils are awaiting Garda clearance following the completion of a recruitment process and four other counties have scheduled interview dates. In the other local authorities talks are ongoing at local level on the functions and responsibilities of participants and in regard to issues such as supervision.

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