Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 619: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the details of the work placement programme; the number of persons that have applied for vacancies under the scheme to date on a national basis; the number of persons who have started positions to date on a national basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31555/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Work Placement Programme will provide up to 9 months work experience for 2,000 unemployed individuals, including graduates. Under the programme there are 2 streams, each Stream consisting of 1,000 places. Stream 1 is the graduate stream and stream 2 is the non-graduate stream. Whilst participating on the programme, participants may be entitled to maintain their social welfare entitlements subject to the rules of the Department of Social Protection.

To date, 1,336 people have taken up placements under the Work Placement Programme (WPP), 696 in the graduate stream and 638 in the non-graduate stream.

1,076 other posts are currently being advertised under the Programme. Interested people can apply directly to the Provider for a placement, and so FÁS does not have comprehensive data on the total number of people who apply for placements.

The number of placements on this programme continues to grow and efforts continue to maximise the number of placements for unemployed persons.