Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 67: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the status of Tús community work placement initiative; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8055/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister for Finance announced the introduction of a community work placement initiative for up to 5,000 persons in his Budget statement to Dáil Éireann on the 7th December 2010. The initiative, known as Tús, was launched on the 21st December 2010 and work on developing the necessary implementation structures has been underway since then. The aim of Tús is to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year. Promotion of Tús to potential work placement providers has been underway for some weeks as part of a process of identifying suitable work placements and local development companies are currently recruiting supervisory staff. The random selection of participants by the Department will commence shortly once the necessary arrangements have been put in place by the local development companies.

There are a number of significant differences between the operation of Tús and the community employment programme. In the main, these differences relate to the programmes' aims, participant selection, delivery, duration of engagement, and training requirements. The amount paid to participants on both programmes will be similar and participants will continue to maintain their entitlement to certain secondary benefits. Equally, participants will be required to work 191⁄2 hours per week.