Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 341: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the discussions he has had with FÁS in regard to raising the age limit for retirement from the community employment scheme from the present sixty six years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24957/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Community Employment (CE) is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a fixed term basis. CE helps unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to a work routine and to assist them to enhance/develop both their technical and personal skills.

The criteria for participating on the Community Employment Programme are based on age and length of time in receipt of various social welfare payments. In line with Government policy, participation on employment schemes has an upper age limit of 65 years of age i.e. FÁS may provide funds to community based employers to cover participant costs until the day before their 66th birthday.

To cater for older workers in particular, in November 2004 I revised the 3 year CE capping to allow those of 55 years of age and over to avail of a 6-year period on CE (based on participation since 3rd April 2000). Subsequently, the participation limit for persons eligible for CE based on a Social Welfare disability linked payment (including those under 55) was increased by 1 year. These measures were introduced in recognition of the fact that older participants and participants with a disability may find it more difficult to progress into the open labour market.

CE still remains as an active labour market programme with the emphasis on progression into employment. The programme is managed within this context, with consideration to the availability of resources and the needs of participants and the community. The position in relation to eligibility of clients is regularly reviewed, including in consultation with FÁS, and there are no plans at this time to further amend the current eligibility look forward to receiving the views of the Expert Group on these measures and on their potential to contribute to meeting the targets contained in the National Skills Strategy.

In revising the Expert Group on Future Skills Need's mandate a continuing focus on the National Skills Strategy is provided for through: requiring that an annual report of work undertaken by the Expert Group be prepared each year, and that the chairperson of the Expert Group meet at least once annually with the Minister of Education and Science and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Obviously a central element of such meetings between the Ministers and the Chairperson will be to comprehensively assess the implementation of the National Skills Strategy.

Earlier this year I also established the Management Development Council, which brings together the key providers and users of SME management development training in Ireland. The Council has been charged with examining the existing management development provision, while profiling gaps and proposing solutions to address them.

Finally the Upskilling Co-ordination Group, also set up in the course of this year and chaired by an official of my Department, brings together representatives of FÁS, Skillnets, Enterprise Ireland, the County Enterprise Boards and Forfás. The core work of this group is to ensure the most effective and strategic application of public budgets provided for the continuing training of those at work.

The group is also tasked with ensuring that the emphasis placed on upskilling workers on lower rungs of the vocational ladder — as committed to in both Towards 2016 and in the National Development Plan — is progressively being realised through the training programmes administered by the organisations involved and those contracted to deliver training and development programmes on their behalf.

The Government remains fully committed to upskilling and the implementation of the National Skills Strategy. This year the State will invest approximately €70 million in the training of those in employment. This represents a significant increase in investment when you consider that in 2004 the state invested €8 million in this area.