Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the economic recovery takes hold and the overall level of unemployment continues to fall, the need to adapt employment programmes such as community employment and Tús to the changing circumstances, opportunities and the needs of jobseekers has become more apparent and urgent. With this in mind, my Department undertook an analysis of CE, which also looked at other employment programmes associated with it such as Tús. The report, which was recently approved by Government and which I published last Friday, made a number of recommendations on the operation of these schemes.

The changes I am introducing will see the general qualifying age for CE reduced from 25 to 21 years, thus allowing more younger people to take part in CE schemes and it will be easier for previous participants to re-enter a scheme for another year as the baseline year is being moved from 2000 to 2007. The changes widen the range of people who can take part in CE and that will improve the availability of people for the schemes.

However, the length of time a person must be in receipt of a social welfare payment to qualify for CE or Tús remains at 12 months and I have no plans to change that. That ensures a person who becomes unemployed is, in the first instance, provided with the one-to-one intensive activation support of a case officer to try to find regular employment for them before being considered for a placement on an employment programme. We want people to get into work first or education and training ahead of a scheme. We also want to ensure that the focus of these schemes continues to be on the long-term unemployed, those who are not able to find jobs.

The Deputy should note that the overall number of scheme places available in 2017 is 32,000. CE will continue to be the largest programme with 22,400 places in almost 1,000 schemes across the country. The balance will be made up of placements in schemes such as the rural social scheme, RSS, and Tús.

As part of the implementation of the new measures, my Department will consult with key stakeholders in the coming weeks about the implementation of the new arrangements which will commence thereafter. I have also signalled my intention to make a decision on relaxing the rules for people over 55 who are long-term unemployed and I will make a decision on that in the next three months.

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