Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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285. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if community employment schemes can be extended beyond the three-year cap for persons that are not in a position to obtain gainful employment elsewhere; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13270/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The aim of the Community Employment (CE) programme is to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and unemployed people by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. The programme helps break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market. A number of new conditions were introduced on CE in July 2017 to further support progression and broaden access to CE to a wider range of people.

In general all CE placements for new entrants aged between 21 and 55 years will be for 1 year – however CE participants, working towards a major award, can seek to extend participation by up to two years to enable then to reach the required standard of qualification. In addition, those over 55 years of age can remain on CE for three years.

An overall lifetime limit of 6 years will apply to allCE participants (changed from 3 years for those under 55 years). A person may re-qualify for CE after 12 months of being in receipt of a qualifying payment, provided they have not reached their 6 year limit. Persons in receipt of a qualifying disability-linked social welfare payment will be eligible for an overall lifetime limit of 7 years.

I trust that this clarifies matters for the Deputy.