John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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496. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to review the rules applied to the recruitment of community employment workers with a view to allowing ex-community employment workers to re-apply after a set period; to apply a two-year minimum contract across the board; to reduce the minimum age for recruitment from 25 years to 21 years; to bring the referrals allowance back to a 50:50 ratio; to change eligibility from 12 months to three months unemployed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9758/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Community Employment (CE) is a labour market activation programme which helps long-term unemployed people (those 12-months or more in receipt of a jobseeker’s payment) and other disadvantaged groups to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. It is designed to be a temporary fixed-term activation intervention. The programme assists participants to enhance and develop skills which can then be used in the workplace.

A number of persons who sign on to the Live Register generally exit it again within a short-time frame, without any recourse to employment schemes or intensive activation measures. Accordingly, it is considered appropriate that the CE scheme will remain focused on those who are long-term unemployed. There are other interventions and activation options for those who are short-term unemployed for example advice on job-search activities and the use of online job search tools.

In general participants can avail of 12 months participation on CE. Lifetime cumulative participation on CE by an individual is limited to 3 years (156 weeks) for persons under 55 years of age and 6 years (312 weeks) for persons of 55 years of age up to and including 65 years of age. Eligible persons in receipt of a qualifying disability-linked Social Welfare payment are eligible for one additional year on CE over the standard maximum participation caps. Community Employment participants who have not exhausted their lifetime cumulative participation (as detailed above) can return to CE after a minimum 12-month gap since their last CE participation. They must be in receipt of a CE-qualifying social welfare payment for the requisite period of time to become eligible for further time on the programme. These conditions are in place to allow the maximum utilisation of place among the greatest number of participants.

There are no plans to extend the standard CE participation period up to two years minimum as this would result in a reduction in throughput from the scheme, thereby reducing the overall number of CE beneficiaries per year.

The standard minimum entry age for CE is 25 years of age. It is worth noting that the entry age for dedicated childcare and health and social care positions that involve working directly with service users was lowered to 21 years of age. There are no plans to further reduce the standard minimum entry age for other positions.

The eligibility criteria for CE places are kept under on-going review to ensure they are effective in targeting long-term unemployed jobseekers and other specific disadvantaged groups. The Department is committed to continuing to enhance the effectiveness of the CE Programme and conscious of the valuable contribution it is making in the provision of services to individuals and communities across Ireland.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.