Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The action plan for jobless households in all of our local employment schemes, Intreo offices and departmental offices is based on voluntary participation. The pilot in the Action Plan for Jobs is being done in five regions. We will probably do it for approximately six months before we see real, quantitative data. In my experience, and it may be the Senator's also, when offered assistance, people grab it with both hands. They do not put up resistance and say they do not want to do a course leading to an educational qualification, etc. I genuinely think that we will get a positive response from those who are not currently listed in any scheme other than dependent spouses of people who are already receiving a social welfare payment. I will not really know until six months or so have passed. We are kicking it off in January in five specific regions throughout the country. When I get the results back, the Oireachtas joint committee might examine the results. I anticipate it will be a success. When it is a success, we will then roll it out to the rest of the country. We can talk about tweaking it based on the evidence that will be available after a couple of months.