Written answers

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Department of Social Protection

Job Initiatives

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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190. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the action she is taking to facilitate the return to work of previously self-employed persons who remain on the live register; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40376/14]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Services and programmes for people who are on the Live Register and receiving welfare payments are available regardless of the registrant’s prior employee/self-employed status.

The Government’s primary strategy to reduce unemployment, including for those who were previously self-employed, is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. This strategy is working. Employment has risen by over 75,000 since 2012. The unemployment rate is falling and is currently at 11.1%, the lowest rate in 5 years – and is down from a peak of just over 15% in 2011.

However, Government also recognises the need for additional activation measures to ensure that as many as possible of the jobs created as the economy recovers are taken up by those on the Live Register. This is the rationale behind the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy. The latest iteration of the Pathways to Work Strategy - Pathways to Work 2015, which was published earlier this month, includes a wide range of programmes and services to help unemployed jobseekers back to employment. These include programmes such as JobBridge, JobsPlus and Momentum introduced by this Government and schemes such as Community Employment and Tús, where the Department has significantly increased the number of places available.

Persons on the Live Register are also eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through ETB (formerly FÁS) training for unemployed people and to receive a training allowance while undertaking the course (if they are already in receipt of a social welfare payment). Springboard and Skillnets courses for unemployed people, funded through the Department of Education and Skills, are also those who are signing on to the Live Register.

Pathways to Work 2015 also includes arrangements to increase the level of systematic engagement of the employment services with those who are out of work for long periods. There is also a specific focus on employer engagement to encourage employers to recruit from the Live Register.

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