Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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913. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons accessing employment services through INTREO in each of the years 2019, 2020 and to date 2021, in tabular form. [31661/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Activation is the selection and referral of a person on a jobseeker payment to a compulsory engagement and case management process to support them back into employment. An individual activation meeting is arranged with a Case Officer to agree and complete a Personal Progression Plan (PPP). The PPP sets out a series of jointly agreed undertakings and actions to advance and/or enhance the employment prospects of the client. These may include referrals to Further Education, employment support schemes, internships and other supports. Activation Review Meetings take place to review progress against agreed PPP actions.

Any person of working age can avail of employment support services on a voluntary basis through their local Intreo Centre and these services have remained available throughout the pandemic. One-to-one meetings with a Case Officer/Job Coach will be arranged as required.

As the Deputy will be aware, activation appointments were largely suspended from March 2020 as part of the Department’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and public health restrictions. Limited services were provided during 2020 and early 2021, subject to the public health restrictions in place at any time. Employment services staff were redeployed initially to assist with Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) applications and to income support helplines. Since February this year, employment services staff have returned to their roles in activation, leading to an increase in the numbers of systematic engagements with jobseekers; these engagements are carried out by phone.

The numbers of appointments and individual customers for the periods requested are set out by year in the table below. The variation in the figures reflects the reduced employment services during 2020 as outlined above. The data provided includes those customers who may have attended more than one appointment.

Numbers of Intreo Appointments by year and numbers of customers up to 9 June 2021.