Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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150. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a tabular list by local authority area of the numbers of persons engaged in the Gateway scheme for long-term unemployed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10545/15]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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151. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the options that are open to Gateway scheme participants, if they are being asked to carry out duties that are not part of the scheme and are carrying out work that should be done by council employees rather than participants on an activation programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10546/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 150 and 151 together.

Gateway is a Government initiative with Local Authorities which aims to provide short-term quality and suitable opportunities to improve the employability and maintain the work readiness of those who have been unemployed for 24 months or more. There are currently 1,902 participants on Gateway across all county and city council areas.

The table below sets out the numbers of places allocated to each local authority together with the number of jobseekers engaged on Gateway as of Friday 6th March.

TABLE

Responsibility for the designation of work to be undertaken under Gateway rests with individual county and city councils. The scheme is broadly drawn and can encompass a wide range of duties relating to the delivery of services for which local authorities have responsibilities. The Department of Social Protection’s role is limited to the selection of participants for recruitment and for providing the resources necessary to pay the participants.