Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department encourages people to engage in voluntary work within the State. Any person who engages in voluntary work may continue to be entitled to jobseeker's benefit or allowance provided that, in engaging in the voluntary work, the customer continues to satisfy the statutory conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work.

Examples of voluntary work in which jobseeker's may engage include: · helping the sick, elderly or persons with a disability · assisting youth clubs, church groups, sports groups, cultural organisations, local resident associations The groups involved may be nationally organised groups or local voluntary or community groups.

The aim of the Voluntary Work Option is twofold, namely – to encourage voluntary organisations to involve jobseeker's to the greatest extent possible in their existing activities by creating new opportunities for voluntary work and to inform jobseeker's of their freedom to involve themselves in voluntary work and to encourage them to do so. In addition, the existing Community Employment Scheme, operated by FÁS, offers the opportunity to unemployed persons to participate in paid employment in the social economy.

The announcement by the Taoiseach of changes in Ministerial responsibility were made with a view towards achieving a better alignment of functions within and between Departments in order to deliver a better outcome for users of services and for the taxpayer. With regard to the functions being transferred to my Department, there will be an emphasis on reducing poverty, particularly by reducing dependency on social welfare payments among people of working age by promoting greater activation and participation. Bringing the various relevant programmes together within the remit of my Department will assist us in achieving these objectives.

The transfer of functions and the associated development of services will take time to achieve. However, I am in ongoing consultation with community stakeholders and will be pushing ahead with a range of policy initiatives aimed at delivering opportunities for activation to those who are out of work.