Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the excellent work done on the full range of community employment, Tús and rural social schemes, supported by the Department of Social Protection, and the contributions these schemes and their workers make to communities throughout the country. At present there are some 27,000 people and 1,649 supervisors employed on the three main schemes. Overall, these schemes have a budget allocation of €540 million in 2022.

Work schemes such as Tús and community employment are positive initiatives that enable the long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities while upskilling for prospective future employment. The rural social scheme provides farmers and fishers with income support while they also make a contribution to their community. At present, there are more than 10,000 places supported on Tús and rural social schemes, with a budget of more than €160 million available to support the schemes in 2022.

I agree with the Senators and we are all hugely impressed with the range and value of the work undertaken by the participants on these schemes, whether with Tidy Towns or the GAA or in childcare. We would all notice a sizeable difference to our communities were these schemes and their participants not working. Recognising the work and acknowledging the challenges that face these schemes, on 21 December, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, announced reforms to the rural social scheme and the community employment scheme to improve the operation and further support these schemes that maintain vital services to communities. These changes included a provision to allow community employment and rural social scheme participants who reach 60 years of age to remain on both schemes until they reach State pension age, along with a number of other changes to reduce the numbers exiting schemes while improving the referral process.

While these changes have helped, recruitment to schemes to fill all vacancies remains a challenge with vacancies in schemes at present. Recent positive employment trends, with the reduction in unemployment and in the number of long-term unemployed, are having an impact on recruitment to these schemes. It means there is a smaller pool of candidates to fill available places. These challenges are similar to those facing employers in the open labour market. To further assist schemes to maintain services in this tight labour market, last week the Minister and Minister of State announced additional measures. These will improve recruitment and remove the six-year time limit on the rural social scheme for all participants, while continuing the practice whereby placements can be extended until suitable replacements are available to fill vacancies. These reforms will ensure that schemes have sufficient participants to continue to deliver services throughout the county in urban and rural areas.

The Department recently reviewed the means assessment disregards for farm assist, which is the main qualifying payment for the rural social scheme. As part of this review process, it was recommended to provide for extensive expansion of the list of agri-environmental schemes that qualify towards income disregards. These measures have been implemented from June 2022.

I understand that last year, the Minister and Minister of State introduced the employment support services operation forum where they, along with departmental officials, meet representatives from community employment, the job initiative scheme, the rural social scheme and Tús. This forum now meets three to four times a year, with the next meeting due to be held very shortly. The operational forum provides a valuable opportunity to discuss operational issues that arise on the schemes and impact on service delivery in the communities. The Minister and Minister of State find the meetings to be extremely informative and a very worthwhile opportunity for constructive exchanges of views and ideas. They also interact regularly with schemes at ground level by visiting and engaging with them throughout the country.

The funding of any potential payment increases for rural social scheme and Tús participants is a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and will need to be considered in the wider economic and budgetary context. I assure both Senators that I will ensure the points raised this morning will be relayed to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, and, with regard to the top-up payment, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath.