Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if under the new work activation proposals in his Department, a person completed a fourth year on FÁS course can transfer to a rural social scheme (details supplied) [35507/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Social Protection is currently devising proposals for the development of new initiatives based on the Rural Social Scheme and the Community Services Programme which will offer employment opportunities. Details of the roll out of this initiative will be made available as soon as possible.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 172: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if specific measures are in place to match the skills or education profile of persons in receipt of jobseeker's payments with the requirements of potential employers; if his Department makes referrals of appropriately qualified jobseeker's benefit or jobseeker's allowance recipients to the approximately 40,000 jobs posted on employment websites in addition to the 4,000 FÁS advertised jobs; if he will consider setting up a new public website on which the skills or education profile of recipients can be immediately accessed by potential employers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35521/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Currently systematic referral of jobseekers for training, education or employment opportunities is via the National Employment Action Plan (NEAP). Under the NEAP unemployed people are referred to FÁS on reaching specified duration thresholds on the live register. FÁS provides a range of services and supports to employers and jobseekers, including unemployed people referred under the NEAP. These services include local job matching and on-line services for jobseekers and employers with access provided to jobs data, vacancies, CVs, etc. The NEAP is a key element of the Government's labour market policy and it is based on the well-established principle that early intervention reduces the likely duration of unemployment.

The recently published ESRI report (National Profiling of the Unemployed in Ireland. ESRI Research Series No. 10) developed a statistical profiling model for Ireland that would identify individuals with a high risk of becoming long-term unemployed. The report quantifies the relative impact of a range of factors which contribute to long-term unemployment. These factors include low education levels, poor literacy or numeracy, advanced age or a history of unemployment periods in recent years. Effective prevention depends on being able to identify those at risk of becoming long-term unemployed at an early stage, and referring them to appropriate labour market programmes to improve their chances of obtaining employment. The implementation of the profiling model is currently in progress in the Department.

It is envisaged that the implementation of the profiling model will prove very effective in targeting resources appropriately and will therefore significantly enhance the current NEAP process.

The transfer of the employment services function of FÁS to the Department of Social Protection will also ensure a more coherent approach to the needs of jobseekers and employers. Bringing together, under the aegis of one department, the employment services of FÁS, the expertise of its placement officers and the unemployment services of this department, will facilitate the delivery of a more effective and streamlined response to the needs of both the unemployed and employers. Enhancements to existing FÁS services, or complementary ones, that facilitate matching vacancies with jobseekers will be examined in this context.