Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 42: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the steps she will take to ensure that participation in Tús involves training; and if she will make funding available for same. [10448/11]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the guidelines and criteria that will govern the targeting and selection of persons to participate in Tús; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10452/11]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the amount of funding being made available for all aspects of Tús. [10457/11]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 57: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the steps she will take to ensure that no worker displacement arises from the introduction of the new Tús scheme, the work placement programme and internships. [10450/11]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 68: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will introduce a travel allowance for Tús participants. [10449/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 168: To ask the an Aire Coimirce Sóisialaí cén uair a bheidh cead ag Cumann Lúthchleas Gael an 200 duine a bhí le hearcú acu faoin scéim TÚS a earcú ó tharla go bhfuil an séasúr faoi lán seoil agus ag cur san áireamh freisin na hacmhainní atá an Cumann sásta a chur ar fáil don scéim; agus an ndéanfaidh sí ráiteas ina thaobh. [10362/11]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 191: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when will the new Tús employment scheme be established and if the participants on these schemes have the same entitlements as the workers on existing community employment schemes. [7978/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 42, 45, 52, 57, 68, 168 and 191 together.

The Minister for Finance announced the introduction of a community work placement initiative for up to 5,000 persons in the Budget Statement to Dáil Éireann on 7 December 2010. The initiative, known as Tús, was launched on 21 December 2010 and work on developing the necessary implementation structures has been under way since. The aim of Tús is to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than one year. Some €30 million has been provided in my Department's Estimates in 2011 to fund the roll-out of the initiative.

Detailed conditions and rules to guide the operation of Tús have been developed with representatives of the local development companies and officials of my Department. These conditions and rules require that each local development company takes the necessary steps to guard against potential displacement of existing private or public sector service or worker displacements. Additionally, internal procedures for the selection of persons to participate have been developed and will be issued to local office managers and staff in the coming days. The random selection of participants by my Department will commence shortly as the necessary arrangements become operational at local development company level.

Promotion of Tús to potential work placement providers has been under way for some weeks as part of a process of identifying suitable work placements and local development companies are recruiting supervisory staff. This includes engagement with a number of national sports organisations, including the GAA, in respect of games development and related activities. With respect to the latter, my Department will make detailed proposals in the coming days with a view to finalising arrangements to enable participants to avail of games development opportunities across the country.

There are a number of significant differences between the operation of Tús and the community employment programme. In the main, these differences relate to the programmes' aims, participant selection, delivery, duration of engagement and training requirements. The amount paid to participants on both programmes will be similar and participants will continue to maintain their entitlement to certain secondary benefits. Equally, participants will be required to work 191⁄2 hours per week.

Other than tasks related to training, Tús will not have a compulsory training element, although training opportunities may be available from the range of initiatives delivered by local development companies. Travel and out-of-pocket expenses will not be payable, although every effort will be made to ensure work placements are available close to a participant's home. The target is to have 1,000 placements filled by the end of June, with the remainder being filled over the course of the next year.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Is the Minister aware that circumstances may arise in which Tús participants will find themselves working alongside community employment scheme participants while enjoying fewer entitlements? Does she agree that this is unfair?

Does the Minister agree that random selection may be a flawed approach in that, for example, persons without a background in sport could be sent to the GAA or the FAI to engage in sports training? The selection process needs to be reviewed. Will the Minister consider allowing those who qualify for the scheme by virtue of having been on the dole for one year to apply to be included in a panel for selection to participate in Tús?

If Tús is to be more than workfare, it must have a strong training element. The Minister has indicated funding is not available for this purpose. Is funding available that could be allocated to partnership groups or local development companies to enable them to provide additional training over and above their current contracts to ensure Tús participants have some access to training and the scheme will deliver real benefits?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I was very encouraged when I first heard about Tús on entering the Department. I was under the impression that many of the places had been taken up and was surprised to find that while there had been four or five announcements on the launch of the initiative, other than the pilot scheme involving 119 people in two local development company areas, Tús had not commenced. I have now spent a considerable number of weeks seeking to encourage the widest possible participation from the various local development companies and sporting organisations that have been provided with a complement of places.

I am encouraged by the positivity with which people have been reacting. I also have had discussions with Members of different parties from all sides of this House, many of whom are also involved in local development companies. In a manner similar to the internship scheme that will be announced later today by the Minister for Finance, there is an opportunity for everyone who is involved in a local development company to identify people. In many ways Tús is probably modelled on the original rural social scheme. However, it now applies to both urban and rural areas and as Minister, I certainly intend to ensure that not only rural areas but every town, village and city in Ireland in which there are development companies and partnerships anxious to engage people will be fully involved in the process. As I stated, the response thus far is encouraging.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister referred to Tús and the local development companies. My local development company in County Offaly has informed me that in respect of the recruitment of supervisors, for example, those who advanced themselves or who sought to better themselves by participating in departmental training in the year previous to their application are not allowed to apply. How can the Minister stand over this and how can local development companies be hamstrung by virtue of this fact? People were given a leg-up by encouraging them to participate in training and to further improve themselves and their skill sets, yet the Minister presides over a scenario whereby she will not allow anyone to take up a supervisory position because they tried to better themselves in the previous year.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister review the random selection element to put in place some sort of system that would enable participants or those who wish to participate to put their names forward in a manner that would avoid, for example, those who have no interest in sport being forced to engage in sport? How many staff supervisors are being employed to cover this initiative?

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Some of the local partnership companies are Leader companies. Is any European money available for this programme?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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County Offaly has been offered 100 Tús places with five supervisors. While I acknowledge the Deputy's point in respect of the selection of supervisors, I inherited this scheme and the legislation relating to it from my predecessor, the Deputy's distinguished colleague.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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That will only last for so long. For as long as the Minister is playing that game, it is like stretching elastic.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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One reason for the inclusion of random selection was that one measure in the programme agreed by the previous Government with the troika was to provide for activation measures, some of which would be based on random selection.

In response to Deputy Ó Snodaigh's question on the possibility of someone like me, who is not the greatest person at football or hurling, being selected, this is about reasonable offers that relate to a person's capacity or interest. There is no way in which someone who was totally unsuitable would be selected for a particular offering. It is about reasonable offers that are meant to assist a person to acquire valuable experience and training. I am confident there will be a good match and I intend to send the details to all Members of this House. Moreover, as I stated previously, I have spoken personally with many Deputies in respect of their interaction with their own local companies. We will make as great a success of this as we can.

I am afraid that no additional European funds have been made available in this regard. However, much emphasis is laid in the memorandum of understanding with the troika on the business of getting people into work, training and education. Were we to show that schemes such as this or the internship schemes can be successful, productive and helpful to people trying to get back into work, it would bear fruit during the renegotiation of the terms and conditions of the deal.