Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

8. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason a community employment supervisor who is funded by her Department is forced to retire when he or she reaches the age of 66; the reason this is the case when, under Irish law, there is no mandatory retirement age. [39404/14]

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

Community Employment (CE) is a non-statutory scheme put in place to support persons who are long-term unemployed and other vulnerable groups to gain the confidence and skills to re-enter the labour market. Schemes are sponsored by local community and voluntary groups who provide valuable support services to local communities. These sponsoring organisations employ supervisory staff to administer the scheme.

Funding under CE is provided under the following four headings:

- Participant Allowances;

- Material Costs (running costs/overheads/insurance, etc.);

- Training Costs; and

- Supervision Costs

Funding is provided by the Department to the Sponsoring Organisations for the employment of staff between the ages of 25 to 65 years (up to the Friday prior to becoming 66 years). This is a long established procedure which sponsoring organisations have signed up to as part of their contractual arrangement with the Department and it is applied equally across all schemes participating in CE.

I have no plans to change these arrangements.