Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. As part of the Government's decision in 1999 to restructure community employment, future participation in CE by an individual was capped at three years effective from April 2000. This change was introduced to discourage repeated participation in CE and to encourage unemployed persons to avail of training-education options where possible, which are shown to have more successful progression outcomes for individuals.

The three-year cap was amended in August 2001 to allow particularly disadvantaged persons to remain on the programme for a further period. Participants are considered for such an extension if, on reaching the end of their normal entitlements on CE, they are likely to experience difficulty in getting employment. A number of CE participants have difficulty in progressing to open labour market employment due to their age, literacy or numeracy problems or a lack of suitable jobs available locally.

FÁS has discretion to give 20% of participants under 50 years of age extensions of up to one year to meet the needs of individuals who would clearly benefit from an extension in terms of their future employment prospects. In addition, participants over 50 may be given a further year on CE with provision for review at the end of that year — further discretion may be given to extend participation beyond this on a case by case basis, subject to continued annual review. In general, approximately 20% of participants on CE may benefit from an additional year on the programme under the current flexibility guidelines. An extension is considered if, on reaching the end of their normal community employment entitlements, participants are likely to experience difficulty obtaining employment due to age, literacy or numeracy problems or a lack of suitable jobs available locally.

Community employment is an elective labour market programme and, as such, the concept of progression by participants is central to it. Self-employment services are available to assist participants who have completed their term of community employment to progress to employment on the open labour market or to advise on training and educational options available locally.

Consideration has been given to the mainstreaming of certain essential services provided through CE. In this regard, approximately 4,500 CE places in schools have been mainstreamed over the past number of years. This involved the appropriate degree of funding being transferred to the Department of Education and Science for the provision of relevant services in schools. In addition, in the region of 2,300 places have been provided on the social economy programme.

To ensure that persons with disabilities were not adversely affected by the ongoing restructuring of the community employment programme, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Children, which has primary responsibility for funding in this area, considered the possible mainstreaming of community employment services provided in the health sector. A detailed examination of the practicalities involved in mainstreaming these positions was undertaken and it was discovered that substantial additional funding would be required on top of the contribution from existing community employment funding to mainstream them. Due to the high demands on the health budget, it has not been possible to provide this additional funding in the Estimates provision of the Department of Health and Children.

However, I am pleased to indicate that all health service related community employment projects, including those providing services for persons with disabilities, are ring-fenced and protected from reductions. Other services ring-fenced from reductions include drugs task force activity and child care service provision. Projects in RAPID areas are prioritised. Sponsor organisations, such as the Irish Wheelchair Association, have indicated that they have difficulty in replacing participants who have completed their normal term of community employment due to the lack of suitable applicants coming forward for the programme. In this regard, FÁS has been requested to make every effort to identify community employment participants suitable for the positions in question. If FÁS encounters difficulties in replacing departing CE participants with suitable persons, the matter can be considered in the context of the 20% flexibility in relation to extending community employment participation.

The total funding allocation for employment schemes in 2004 has been fixed at €351 million, which will support up to 25,000 places across the three employment schemes, namely, CE, job initiative and social economy. FÁS is being given some flexibility in the management of this financial allocation to maximise progression to the labour market while at the same time facilitating the support of community services. This allocation of €351 million is similar to the budgeted amount provided in 2003. Accordingly, there will be no reduction in the total level of provision for the three schemes or in the combined participation levels in 2004.

The future structure of the community employment programme is currently under review by a group of senior officials and FÁS and this group is expected to report to Ministers on the outcome of its deliberations shortly. The outcome of this review will inform any future adjustments in the structure and the terms and conditions of participation on community employment.

I listened carefully to what Senator Kitt said. I accept the point he made that there are difficulties in some communities because there are no people to replace those retiring from community employment schemes. That, in itself, is a good problem in that it shows that the level of unemployment has gone down so much that we cannot get people to take up schemes. I am aware that there are difficulties and that people coming off schemes may not have an opportunity to find work elsewhere. That issue is being addressed in the review, which is almost complete. I will take into account the Senator's views on the matter.