Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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478. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of eligible workers for community employment schemes who have been signed up to Turas Nua; the percentage of eligible workers for community employment schemes this represents; the efforts being made to address the crisis of recruiting persons for community employment schemes throughout the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38369/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most distant from the labour market to secure and sustain full-time paid employment. My Department has contracted two companies, Turas Nua and Seetec JobPath, to provide the service.

All persons engaged with JobPath may also be eligible for a placement on CE. From 1st June 2018, I broadened access by allowing persons to take up a placement on CE while also attending their JobPath provider.

This facilitates the combination of the strengths of the two programmes - by enabling those people with the JobPath service to avail of a CE placement and in turn benefit from the job-seeking support of their JobPath personal advisor while also availing of a quality training and development opportunity provided by a CE scheme.

The Deputy will appreciate that the welcome reduction in the unemployment rate is a factor in recruitment to all programmes. The Government is very mindful of the large number of work programme places involved in service delivery and other valuable services around the country. In this regard if any scheme is experiencing particular recruitment difficulties, they should contact their local Department Intreo Centre for assistance.