Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 304: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of citizens aged 64 years of age that have been targeted for inclusion on the Tús programme; the number of citizens aged 63 years of age that have been targeted for inclusion on the Tús programme; the number of citizens aged 62 years of age that have been targeted for inclusion on the Tús programme; the number of citizens aged 61 years of age that have been targeted for inclusion on the Tús programme; the number of citizens aged 60 years of age that have been targeted for inclusion on the Tús programme; and the criteria used for selection of citizens for Tús. [30809/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Tús is a community work placement initiative which aims to provide up to 5,000 short-term work opportunities for those who have been fully unemployed and in receipt of a jobseeker's payment for at least 12 months, and who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance at the time of application.

Applying the above conditions, participants are identified by the Department using a random selection process. Once randomly selected, the local social welfare office writes to the persons concerned offering them the opportunity to be considered for local employment, as opportunities arise. When those identified agree to participate on Tús, their details are forwarded to one of the 52 Local Development Companies or Údarás na Gaeltachta. They will then contact them for an initial assessment interview and their skills and interests are profiled and matched to available positions offered by the community, voluntary and not-for-profit sector locally.

Currently, under the initiative, there are 4,271 participants and 230 supervisors engaged in the provision of services to their communities.

The number of citizens aged between 60 and 64 years of age who have been engaged on Tús in either a participatory or supervisory capacity is set out in the following table.