Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Seanadóir maidir leis an cheist seo. I thank the Senator for raising this matter. Community employment has long been an important initiative for persons who are unemployed. As with a number of other interventions, community employment has evolved over a number of years, with eligibility broadened to provide working opportunities for a wide range of people who face challenges in accessing the wider work force.

The primary aim of community employment is to facilitate re-entry to the active workforce. Community employment achieves this by breaking the cycle of unemployment, opening up training and educational opportunities, providing work experience and work routines, and utilising people's skills. Operationally, community employment has two options, with different eligibility rules and conditions. The part-time integration option is designed to help participants aged 25 years and over to find a job or enter full-time training or education, normally after one year on community employment. A person who is aged 35 or over and is claiming a jobseeker's payment for three years or more can qualify for the part-time job option. With this option, a person can work up for up to three years compared with the standard one year available to other participants in recognition of the need to provide access to a part-time job for extended periods for persons in this eligibility category who have been unable to secure regular employment for some time.

Extensions of a further year are only allowed under the part-time integration option. Requests for extensions must be made a minimum of eight weeks before the participant's proposed finish date by the project supervisor. Once an extension application is received by the local FÁS office, the FÁS development officer decides whether the extra year's placement is the most suitable and cost effective measure to assist a participant in gaining employment. Participants who are deemed job-ready by the supervisor are not extended in order to free up the place for other participants.

Lifetime participation on CE is capped at three years for those aged under 55 and the cap is six years for those aged 55 and over. Persons in receipt of a qualifying disability-related payment for 12 months are eligible for one additional year on top of these two limits, that is, four years for those under 55 and seven years for those aged 55 to 65 years. I have no proposals to consider changing these arrangements. The day-to-day administration of community employment is a matter for FÁS as part of its responsibility under the Labour Services Act 1987, as amended by Part 3 of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2010, and the Minister of the day has no role in respect of any administrative matter, as I am sure the Senator appreciates.

The community employment programme makes an important contribution to the delivery of local services across the country and provides significant employment and training opportunities for those engaged. I do not envisage any change that would impact on the nature or range of services delivered. Within the current budgetary constraints, the number of places on community employment was increased to 23,300 in 2010. The budgetary provision in 2011 will allow FÁS to continue the programme at the same level as in 2010. In delivering these places, FÁS will continue to operate flexibly in the management of this allocation in order to maximise progression to the labour market while at the same time facilitating the support of community services.

The Senator asked about the national employment and entitlements service. As he is probably aware, at present the whole of FÁS is within the Department of Education and Skills but the proposal is that the employment services side of FÁS, including the community employment services, will move to the Department of Social Protection. This is in place at present at the planning and senior levels, and I am getting an opportunity to meet FÁS staff in different centres. I hope the national employment and entitlements service will be under way this time next year but it is a major change to bring social welfare services, community welfare officers and FÁS employment advisers and placement services all together under one roof. If they come together under one roof, we should be able to offer people who are in need of social welfare income support a much more integrated service to help get them back into the labour market or training and education. As I said, we have begun that process.

As I said to Senator O'Neill on the earlier matter, I am also in the process of activating and rolling out the 5,000 TÚS places. There has been a very strong response from local development and management companies, including the Údarás na Gaeltachta, because they see it as a valuable opportunity.

On 1 July we will offer the internship option. This will provide a great deal of flexibility that voluntary and community organisations and the private and public sectors will be anxious to explore. However, it is about giving. Consider, for example, a person who has completed an apprenticeship or finished a degree or masters course, yet cannot break into the jobs market because of the current economic climate. This scheme will offer six to nine months of quality experience which that person can utilise and include in a curriculum vitae to get into the jobs market. In addition, this measure will stop people, particularly young men, drifting into long-term unemployment. All international and Irish studies show that it is an especially negative experience for them and marks them for a very long time.