Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I said that I have been invited by a number of the Senator's colleagues and presumably now by the Senator to come back and discuss the matter with the House in some detail in the future when the details have been finalised and agreement has been reached at European level because it is also a European programme. I have undertaken to come back at that stage and will be more than happy to do so. I want to be clear that I am not in a position to provide a detailed committed report now because we in negotiations. We have ambitions to provide many extra places and to draw down the maximum amount of funding per annum from Europe, which would be roughly €32 million, but we must reach agreement with the Commission and our European partners. That is certainly our hope but I will come back and tell the House what we have been doing.

As the Senator noted, we have developed the Momentum programme very successfully with the Department of Education and Science. Not all of these places reside in the Department of Social Protection. The Departments of Education and Science and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have a significant role to play as do employers. It is employers in Ireland who we hope will offer experience, places, jobs and short-term places.

In respect of the Senator's question about part-time work, the live register for October fell to 396,000, of whom about 80,000 are in part-time work or signing for credits.

That is the rough proportion that is continuously on the live register. The CSO determines how our live register statistics are calculated, that is, anybody receiving any kind of payment. When it does the quarterly national household survey and employment statistics, the CSO concentrates on people who are unemployed, as the Senator is suggesting.

I will make one other point just in case anybody is uncertain about it. The Senator referred to young people with a disability or serious medical condition - whether that is a mental or physical health issue - who would, generally speaking, be on some kind of disability payment. These arrangements do not apply to such young people; they are paid at the full rate. We have special arrangements in the Department to assist young people who have been in care and are leaving care. As with young people on a disability, they get a full rate. I wished to clarify that point because the Senator seemed to imply a certain level of doubt about it. Young people who have children also get a full rate.