Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smyth for raising this important issue. I am taking this debate because the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, is detained in the Seanad.

The community employment scheme and Tús are part of the Department's range of programmes and schemes catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. They are designed to break the cycle of unemployment and maintain work readiness, thereby improving a person's opportunities of returning to the labour market. Employment programmes are a vital service in local communities, especially throughout rural Ireland. The programmes deliver on two levels. They provide a person who is unemployed with the opportunity of work experience and to develop new skills to prepare him or her for employment in the open labour market. They also play a very important role in augmenting service delivery to local communities in key areas such as child care, health and social care, drug rehabilitation and local amenities.

All areas of the country have benefitted from these programmes. In fact, I have seen this at first hand over recent months when I visited various schemes throughout the country. As the economic recovery takes hold and the overall level of unemployment continues to fall, the need to adapt employment programmes to the changing circumstances, opportunities and the needs of jobseekers has become more apparent and urgent. With this in mind, the Department undertook an analysis of the community employment scheme, and while the primary focus was on this scheme, the review also looked at other employment programmes such as Tús. The report made a number of recommendations on the operation of these schemes.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Minister recently brought a memorandum to Government on the programmes and obtained approval to publish the review report and to progress the various recommendations. He intends to publish the review report within the next two weeks. As part of the roll-out of the new measures, the Department will consult key stakeholders in the coming weeks and implementation of the new measures will be progressed thereafter. The nature and format of the consultation process are being finalised by officials of the Department. I assure the Deputy the work being done through programmes such as the community employment scheme and Tús is highly valued and recognised by the Government. The changes to be rolled out over the coming months will strengthen the schemes and help to ensure they continue to support unemployed people and the provision of services across communities in Ireland.

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