Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on the Gateway scheme. [50776/13]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am seeking more details on the Gateway scheme which seems at a glance to be more akin to the Workfare scheme, because there is no training budget and no prospect of work by the host organisation. Can the Minister elaborate on the scheme?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Gateway is a work placement initiative for county and city councils. The initiative aims to improve the employability and maintain the work readiness of those who have been unemployed for 24 months or more. Similar to Tús, participants are selected by a random process conducted by the Department of Social Protection from people in receipt of a jobseeker's allowance payment for two years or more. The selected jobseekers are informed when they have been selected and, if they agree to participate, have their contact details passed to the relevant county and city council.

Responsibility for delivery of this initiative rests with individual county and city councils. Sufficient resources are available to provide for 3,000 placements. So far, just over 1,500 places have been identified in 29 councils in the initial phase of the roll-out. Progress on the roll-out has been slower than anticipated. Delays in the main relate to the ongoing staff restructuring processes of county and city councils, the need to engage with stakeholders, particularly in the county councils, and operational matters relating to securing resources, identifying work and supervisory cover, as well as Garda vetting with which there were very long delays until September. However, despite these obstacles, the initial placement of participants on Gateway will commence in Louth County Council in early December. Limerick county and city councils are awaiting Garda clearance following the completion of a recruitment process and four other counties have scheduled interview dates. In the other local authorities talks are ongoing at local level on the functions and responsibilities of participants and in regard to issues such as supervision.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Basically, the Minister has said that this is Tús for local authorities.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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No.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is the same. Why not extend the CE programme to cover these opportunities whereby a specific programme with a training budget could use a method that works and has been proven to work, rather than creating a new scheme which is akin to Workfare? Is the Minister aware that an academic analysis by the Department of Work and Pensions in Britain, to which she referred earlier, questioned the effectiveness of Workfare, that is, forcing those on social welfare into compulsory work? After surveying international evidence from America, Canada and Australia, that report stated:

There is little evidence that Workfare increases the likelihood of finding work. It can even reduce employment chances by limiting the time available for job search and by failing to provide the skills and experience valued by employers. Subsidised transitional job schemes that pay a wage can be more effective in raising employment levels than work in benefit.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Unlike what happens in the North, where the Deputy's party is in government, there is absolutely no compulsion employed in the Irish system. I am delighted to say so. I share many of the concerns identified in various reports in Britain and Northern Ireland, but we do not do that here. The Deputy should be more au fait with the difference between social protection here, social protection North of the Border where his own party is in government, and in Britain.

The participants who may go on this work placement initiative are selected at random by the Department. That is part of an engagement process whereby people are identified together with whatever potential vacancies the county council will identify.

The Deputy mentioned Tús, which has been very successful. At any one time, there are approximately 7,000 people on Tús schemes. I constantly meet people on Tús schemes who have been out of work for four or five years. They felt they had lost contact with the workplace and could not get a job because they had been unemployed for so long, but they are delighted to be involved in Tús. I would hope that Gateway will begin to offer similar opportunities.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister can dream up all the titles she wants, such as Tús and Gateway, but at the end of the day they are the equivalent of Workfare, which has been condemned. Whether the Minister likes it or not, there is an element of compulsion.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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No, there is not.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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People are brought in and told that if they do not take this offer, their payments will be reduced. They cannot volunteer for it, which means that it is compulsory, so the Minister is living in a fantasy world. Will the Minister ensure that such schemes - be they Tús or Gateway, which I am asking about - have an additional training budget? That would mean that whatever experience people receive in such placements, they will get the best possible training for future employment.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I wish the Deputy would take the opportunity to meet with people from the local development network.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I have done so.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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They have set up structures for assisting the recruitment of people from Tús. The Deputy does not seem to understand the problems of somebody who becomes long-term unemployed, particularly a young man in his mid-twenties. Six months becomes two or three years as, unfortunately, has happened to many people who worked so hard during the building boom. Their capacity and commitment to hard work is not in doubt, but they lost their jobs in an industry that collapsed. We must use all our ingenuity to help those who have had that unfortunate experience to get back to work. If they only self select or only scheme sponsors select them, how do we get to the people who have been at home for four or five years and give them an opportunity to get back to work?

Many of the people in Tús, whom I meet regularly, go back to education or take up other employment. Increasingly, they take up places on CE schemes, so they make progress. I look forward to local authorities participating in helping their fellow citizens back to work.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Questions Nos. 9, 16 and 27 will be taken together. They have been tabled by Deputies O'Dea, Joan Collins and Broughan. I call on Deputy O'Dea to introduce his question.