Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

860. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason a group (details supplied) had its community employment scheme workers removed. [13592/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Community Employment (CE) programme is a community centred labour market initiative established to help long-term unemployed people and other vulnerable groups to enter the workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment.  Under the CE Programme projects must not displace employment opportunities in the open labour market and, as such, the range of services delivered by these projects cannot cover the maintenance of dwelling houses or their related amenities as this would be contrary to the Department’s role in the delivery of labour market activation services.

Following a review of work placements by the officials in the Department in January 2020, people who were placed by some CE sponsoring organisations to carry out maintenance work in residential housing estates in the Midlands were reassigned by their employers, to other work which is appropriate to the CE programme.  There has been no reduction in the number of CE places with this sponsoring organisation, which are approved for funding by this Department.

I trust that this clarifies the matter.