Dáil debates

Thursday, 7 October 2021

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Community Employment Schemes

10:10 am

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 26 together.

As the Deputy is aware, the CE scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in meaningful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed-term basis to improve their prospect of returning to employment. There are graduated and more flexible rules for persons aged over 55 and, then again, for those over 62 on CE. Participants over the age of 62 can participate on a continuous basis up to the State pension age on the CE service support stream. Currently, up to a maximum 10% of CE places are allocated to the stream. There are 1,400 CE participants on the stream.

The number of participants who left CE on reaching retirement at age 66 on the service support stream since 2016 is as follows: 34 persons in 2016; 35 persons in 2017; 146 persons in 2018; 244 persons in 2019; 369 persons in 2020; and 329 to date in 2021.

In order to ensure that all employment and activation programmes have the best outcomes for participants, CE will continue to be made available to support those who are long-term unemployed and furthest removed from the labour market, including those whose employment has been impacted by Covid-19. At the same time, the eligibility criteria for CE and the length of time persons can stay on CE is kept under active review by my Department to ensure the best outcomes for individual participants and to support the vital community services delivered by schemes.

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