Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise this important issue which is affecting participants and sponsoring groups the length and breadth of the country. Since its introduction in November 2004, the Government policy of capping FÁS community employment schemes has led to the termination of placements for hundreds of participants in County Tipperary. It is expected that 700 community employment workers will effectively be made redundant in Tipperary before the end of this year.

I urge the Minister to take immediate steps to remove this draconian and unnecessary cap on the scheme. Given the healthy state of the economy, using community employment participants as a cost saving to the State is unjust, unfair and an example of the downright meanness displayed by the Government. It is an abuse of power against these vulnerable people.

The participants on community employment schemes are involved in completing valuable work for the community. Many community groups, sporting organisations and tidy towns committees, could not undertake their worthwhile projects were it not for the crucial assistance of community employment participants. The scheme has played a very important role in improving community life across Tipperary and it is astonishing that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, is determined to close down community employment schemes by stealth. As a result of this clampdown, many talented and deserving people will lose the opportunity to contribute to their communities in a meaningful way. Local communities are losing out on important and desirable schemes.

Many participants work in the community as personal assistants to severely disabled people. They work with young and old alike, they work in sports clubs, town councils, community development groups, in fact, the list is endless. It is a shameful indictment of this Government that community employment participants are under-estimated, undervalued and under-appreciated by the Minister and the Government.

Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats want to bring the hatchet down on community employment schemes without even a thought for the needs of either participants or the sponsoring projects. For the thousands of community and voluntary groups the removal of participants and the closure of schemes is a devastating blow. Groups are relying on community employment schemes to provide a level of staffing for certain tasks. If the Government is so intent on ending community employment schemes, an alternative source of staffing for community and voluntary groups will have to be found and funded by the Government.

The Minister should be aware of the impact of the capping policy on schemes in Tipperary. For example, in Annacarty the community employment scheme had 12 participants, but when the Minister, Deputy Martin, is finished with his axe it will be halved to six. The Clonoulty-Rossmore scheme had 16 participants but has been reduced to ten. The scheme operating in Cappawhite and Hollyford had 20 participants but with these savage cutbacks it will be reduced to ten. In south Tipperary, 82 people were effectively made redundant in January. Another 150 will lose their place on a scheme at the end of March. In total more than 300 people will lose a place on a community employment scheme in south Tipperary by the end of this year. In north Tipperary, during the course of the next 12 months, 411 people will lose these places on schemes. These staggering figures mean that community employment scheme numbers in County Tipperary will be more than halved before the year is out.

I have received numerous calls from community employment participants, many in their early or late fifties, who have been informed they are no longer needed on a scheme. Community employment schemes in Glengoole, Rathcabbin, Killenaule, and all across Tipperary are losing participants each week. It is outrageous that men and women who have served the community well on these community employment schemes are effectively being forced to retire early. These people feel there is little prospect of their getting any form of meaningful and productive employment.

Several of those who contacted me outlined that they had no transport of their own, and given their age, felt they had little hope of getting any other form of employment in the area. In the increasingly competitive marketplace, many people on community employment schemes have told me the scheme is the only form of work available to them.

There are schemes in Tipperary facing such uncertainty that some supervisors have informed me that their schemes could close before the end of the year. No scheme in Tipperary should be closed, wound down, or have participant numbers reduced. I urge the Government to immediately abolish the current policy of capping the number of years a person can participate on a community employment scheme and I seek the Minister's commitment that those participants affected will be swiftly reinstated.

Immediate changes must be made to the scheme to bring to an end the policy of capping. I urge the Minister to immediately reinstate those affected by this nonsensical capping rule. I further urge that if the community employment scheme is to be abolished by stealth, as current policy and practice would suggest, the Government should provide funding for an alternative source of staffing for the thousands of community and voluntary groups that have been adversely affected by this ridiculous capping policy.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The primary purpose of community employment as an active labour market programme is to reintegrate long-term unemployed persons into open labour market jobs. CE provides unemployed people with temporary opportunities whereby they can develop their skills and obtain a recent track record of work experience.

FÁS continues to develop the content of the CE programme. The new approach involves the introduction of an individual learner plan process focused on meeting the learning needs of participants. The individual learner plan provides for the planning, organising and recording of the work experience, training and development that each participant receives while working on CE. It also includes further training and development for supervisors, a new application process and quality assurance procedures. The new approach should provide substantial benefits to FÁS clients and give increased value for the training budget invested.

In 1999 the community employment programme was restructured to limit participation by new participants to three years, with effect from April 2000. This change was introduced to encourage unemployed persons to progress to training, education and employment where possible. However, this three-year cap was amended in August 2001 to allow particularly disadvantaged persons to remain on the programme for a further period. In general, approximately 20% of participants, including persons less than 55 years of age, have benefited from an additional year on the programme under the flexibility guidelines introduced in August 2001.

On foot of a review of FÁS employment schemes, which included detailed consultations with social partners, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment introduced changes to community employment and other employment schemes with effect from 10 November 2004. The change to the community employment programme removed the three-year cap for persons aged 55 or older. This change means that over-55s are now eligible to participate on community employment for a maximum of five years. In the case of persons advancing beyond 55 years during their normal period of service on CE, participation can also be extended for up to a maximum of six years. The new arrangements were designed to address the particular difficulty of finding replacements to participate in community employment schemes in certain rural areas. They also help to secure the continuity of community services generally.

Combined with the rural social scheme, under the aegis of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, which provides 2,500 places, the existing community service support framework is therefore being maintained. The current ring-fencing and prioritisation procedures for the essential services of child care, health related services and drugs task force clients are also being maintained. For those aged under 55, the normal service of up to three years maximum has continued to apply, subject to the current flexibility guidelines I mentioned earlier which allow for an additional year of participation. The continuation of ring-fencing and the extended participation on CE by older workers help to secure the continuity of community services generally and ensure that the existing community service support framework will be maintained.

In addition to the changes introduced on CE, it was also announced in November 2004 that participants remaining on job initiative will have their contracts renewed annually. Participants who leave the programme voluntarily are, where practicable, replaced by CE participants to support the service being provided. It was also announced that 25,000 places would be available annually on FÁS employment programmes which comprise community employment, social economy and job initiative. The figures at the end of last year showed that the total number of places on the three programmes was approximately 26,000. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has recently taken over responsibility for the social economy programme which has been renamed the community services programme.

This Government will continue to support the positive role of CE in meeting the needs of long-term unemployed persons while at the same time providing essential services to communities. In this regard, we are keeping the operation of the community employment scheme under constant review.