Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Question 205: To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to commence Tús, the community work placement programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6698/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Minister for Finance announced a community work placement initiative for up to 5,000 persons who have been on the Live Register for over a year in his Budget statements to the Dáil on the 7th December 2010. This initiative, to be known as Tús, was launched by my predecessor on the 21st December 2010. The aims of Tús are to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year. Tús will be delivered at local level by each of the 53 local development companies and by Údarás na Gaeltachta. Participants on Tús will be randomly selected by my Department and referred to one of the local development companies.

The Department has in recent days concluded agreements with the local development companies for the local delivery and roll-out of Tús. Promotion of Tús to potential work placement providers has been underway for some weeks as part of a process of identifying suitable work placements by the local development companies within community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations in their operational areas. Each local development company has been authorised to commence recruitment of supervisory staff and to put in place local arrangements for accepting and assigning up to 40 work placement participants in each local development company.