Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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64. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to reform and recalibrate local activation programmes such as community employment, Tús and Gateway as announced in his statement of 2017 priorities. [2755/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a range of activation supports and programmes catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These include programmes such as Community Employment (CE), Tús and Gateway. These schemes help to break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market. My Department is also very conscious of the valuable contribution the schemes are making in the provision of services to individuals and communities across Ireland.

As the Deputy will be aware, these employment schemes provide part-time temporary work in local communities, including opportunities for training and development as a stepping-stone back to employment, for people in receipt of a range of social welfare payments, including those on a long-term jobseeker’s payment.

With the ongoing welcome reductions in the Live Register, issues such as the appropriate level of expenditure, the number of places and the criteria for participation on employment schemes are all being considered. I hope to bring a Memorandum to Government on these matters in the coming weeks. If there are any changes to be made, consultations with stakeholders will be facilitated.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.