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

I acknowledge the important role community employment schemes play in providing valuable opportunities to participants and in supporting the delivery of key services to local communities across the country.

I can confirm that in March the OECD published an impact evaluation of Ireland's active labour market programmes for long-term unemployed people finding positive labour market impacts for both the community employment and Tús programmes. The evaluation was carried out by the OECD in partnership with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and staff from the Department of Social Protection. In undertaking the review, the researchers accessed a wide range of administrative data on the employment schemes and engaged with a range of key stakeholders to gain a real understanding of the impact of these programmes on participants and local communities.

The main findings of the impact evaluation are that community employment and Tús have a positive impact on employment and the earnings of scheme participants in the longer term, in particular for older participants in respect of community employment and for younger participants in respect of Tús. The evaluation also found that older participants are less likely to have recourse to disability payments.

The evaluation made a number of recommendations on how the Department can adapt these programmes to better support current and future participants. These are under active consideration in the context of the delivery of the commitments in the Pathways to Work strategy, which has the fundamental aim of helping people who are unemployed or face barriers to the labour market to get a job.

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