Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Community employment is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed-term basis.

The Deputy may be aware that I held a productive online meeting on Wednesday, 27 January with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, and representatives of the CE sponsoring authorities. The representatives outlined a range of issues that are causing concern within their schemes. One of the CE schemes in Skibbereen has raised similar issues directly with my Department officials locally. Following this, the Minister and I announced a number of changes to community employment on Tuesday, 2 March, which will substantially address the concerns that have been raised. One of the issues raised was the implication of a 2017 rule change that affected CE participants aged 55 years and older who were in community employment in July 2017. Following an examination by Department officials, we announced that participants affected by the rule change in July 2017, who were in community employment at that time, now have the option of remaining in CE for a maximum of six consecutive years in accordance with the terms of the saver clause introduced in the 2017 rule changes. Department staff will shortly begin work with community employment sponsoring authorities to identify those eligible CE participants.

Since the start of the pandemic, we have approved the extension of CE participant contracts that would have come to an end during level 5 restrictions on a number of occasions. To date, more than 5,000 community employment and Tús participants have benefited from these arrangements. These participants will now benefit from a further extension up to 2 July. This will benefit an additional 2,000 CE and Tús participants whose contract would otherwise end between now and the start of July. I reassure the Deputy and the community employment scheme in Skibbereen that these contracts will not suddenly end on the final date of extensions, whenever that will be. Subsequent to the final extension date, there will be a planned ending of contracts on a phased basis and over a period of time to ensure continuity of local services. Department officials will work on the ground with CE schemes to support them in managing this process.

I am aware that community employment recruitment challenges arising from the current restrictions have had an impact on the ability of some CE schemes to recruit new participants. Department officials continue to work with CE sponsoring authorities to identify and refer potential CE participants to schemes where it is safe to do so in compliance with public health restrictions. I have also reiterated on a number of occasions, most recently on Tuesday, that filling CE vacancies will be an absolute priority for the Department, once the economy and society begins to move beyond Covid and public health restrictions ease. It is our intention, therefore, to significantly scale up the numbers of referrals from local Intreo offices to CE once the country begins to reopen.

We also announced on Tuesday that a new forum comprising representatives of community employment and Tús schemes and officials from the Department of Social Protection will be established shortly. The purpose of the forum is to discuss and exchange views on operational issues impacting on both schemes. These recent changes that have been announced will mean the schemes in Skibbereen will not have any participants exiting until 2 July at the earliest. One participant employed in one of the two CE schemes in Skibbereen will also benefit from the changes announced for those affected by the 2017 rule change.

The Minister and I are fully committed to the future of this programme, as is evidenced by the announcement of 3,000 additional CE places. We also secured approval to support community employment and Tús schemes as part of the July stimulus package. We will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of CE participants and the valuable contribution being made to local communities through the provision of services.

See this speech in context