Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.

As the Deputies may be aware, I recently announced that clients of my Department who were engaged with the JobPath service would from 1 June have the option of applying for community employment scheme and Tús placements while continuing on with their JobPath programme. This will ensure jobseekers can benefit from the job seeking support of the JobPath service, while also availing of a part-time work placement which we so value provided by the Tús and community employment scheme organisations. This will have a number of benefits, both for the vital services provided at a local level by participants in community employment scheme and Tús programmes and directly for the Department’s clients. It will, in particular, enable those people with the JobPath service to not only continue to receive the personalised employment counselling and job search support provided by their JobPath personal advisers but also to avail of a Tús or community employment scheme placement which will provide valuable occupational activity and work experience.

In making this change I was particularly conscious that case managed employment counselling and support had been shown internationally and here in Ireland, based on evidence, to be the most effective means of supporting people back into sustained employment. I did not wish people to cease participation in this type of service in order to take up a place on a part-time State employment programme. The decision I have made enables people to benefit from both supports available from the State. In taking the decision I was also conscious that the resource constraints that had informed the Department’s policy had thankfully abated somewhat. In the past the Department operated a one-person-one-place policy in order to ration the available places among jobseekers. We are all aware that we had far too many of them at one point. Given the welcome improvement in the labour market, with the unemployment rate now down to under 6% this week, which is great, this policy can be relaxed slightly.

The JobPath service will be adapted to cater for those who opt to take up a Tús or community employment scheme placement. All meetings and activities will be scheduled to take account of scheme commitments. For example, if a person is committed to participating in the community employment scheme five mornings a week, any JobPath meeting and other intervention they may have will be scheduled for the afternoon, obviously with his or her agreement. The JobPath companies will continue to provide all of the supports they provide for the people with the JobPath service. Community employment scheme and Tús providers will not have to make changes to their operations. They will continue to advertise their jobs for which people with the JobPath service can now apply. The administrative procedures to enable this change to be implemented are being finalised in my Department. That was why I could not announce it with immediate effect and needed a couple of weeks to change the IT systems. It will go live on 1 June. I hope that clarifies the matter.

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