Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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588. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason community employment sponsors are not given the same access to potential participants as rural social scheme, RSS, or Tús sponsors; her plans to review this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49363/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, 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 supports include Community Employment (CE), the Tús programme and the Rural Social Scheme (RSS).

RSS was introduced in 2004 and provides opportunities for farmers and fishermen/women who are currently in receipt of specified social welfare payments to work to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities.Communities benefit from the skills and talents of local farmers and fishermen and participants have the opportunity to improve existing skills, or develop new skills, while performing this valuable work in their local communities.RSS is voluntary and the person applies to participate.

Tús commenced operation in 2011 as a response to the high level of unemployment and the large numbers on the Live Register. It is a community work placement initiative which aims to provide short-term work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year. The duration of the Tús contract is a maximum of 12 months and this ensures that as many people as possible who are unemployed for over 12 months are able to benefit from the initiative.

When RSS and Tús were introduced it was decided that the existing network of local development companies and Údarás na Gaeltachta – referred to as Implementing Bodies (IBs) - were best placed to manage the programmes. Tús is managed by 48 IBs, while RSS is managed by 36 IBs.

My Department assumed responsibility for the Community Employment (CE) programme in 2012. The aim of the programme, which began in 1994, 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.

CE schemes are typically sponsored by voluntary and community organisations wishing to benefit the local community. As the employers, these sponsoring organisations contract with the Department, on an annual basis, to provide jobseekers and other vulnerable groups with good quality work experience and training qualifications to support their progression into employment.

Jobseekers receive information about all available employment support options, including Community Employment (CE), through the Intreo Service. They also receive one-to-one support from a case officer and all available and suitable options are discussed.

Sponsors can also promote their scheme vacancies within their local communities. At a local level, various methods of promoting CE have been arranged between my Department and local CE schemes, including targeting potentially eligible jobseekers to attend a CE Job-fair, where details of CE vacancies and employment opportunities are provided.

In addition CE sponsors can advertise their vacancies free-of-charge on the Department's JobsIreland website, . The process of posting vacancies is relatively straightforward and a tailored video is available online to assist sponsors. There are currently over 1,700 CE vacancies advertised on the site. These are visible to anyone who logs onto the site and users can narrow the search by location.

It is reasonable to assume that any difficulties in filling CE vacancies can be related to the significant drop in the Live Register over the last year or so arising from the much improved labour market. Any sponsor who has any recruitment concerns should contact their nearest Intreo Centre who will provide assistance.

My Department will continue to review these schemes and continue to work with stakeholders in planning the longer term needs of jobseekers and other customers. It remains committed to ensuring that the social inclusion and community benefits that accrue from these schemes continue to be recognised and supported.