Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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562. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he is aware that due to a recent change in Department policy, activation officers are now required to meet with jobseeker’s when they have only been on a social welfare payment for 300 days; if he is aware that they are then referred to Intreo partners, i.e., local employment area service, and so on; if he is aware that individuals cannot be referred on to a community employment programme until they have been on a social welfare payment for 365 days and as a result jobseekers are meeting with at least two different agencies in the time before they become eligible for the programme; if he understands that this means those who are suitable for community employment are not getting the best chance to be referred on to the programme; if he is aware that this has resulted in local community groups in Meath and Louth noticing many issues with those who are being referred to them regarding their suitability for the programme (details supplied); if his Department will consider changing its eligibility policy on accepting trainees at the 300-day stage instead of waiting until 365 days have passed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33622/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, I would like to acknowledge the important role Community Employment (CE) schemes play in providing valuable occupational experience and training as a stepping-stone to employment for people who are unemployed, schemes such as CE also provide important and, in many cases essential, services to their local communities.

The Deputy may wish to note that no changes have been introduced recently by my Department’s Intreo Employment Services in terms of its processes for referring suitable customers to its CE programmes.

Eligible customers can access CE through a variety of pathways. They may be referred from Intreo Employment Service or Intreo Partners following engagement with a personal advisor/case officer, they can submit an expression of interest in a specific CE vacancy via the Departments JobsIreland recruitment website and they may approach a CE scheme Sponsor or Supervisor directly for referral to a vacancy.

The Intreo Employment Service also operates a dedicated central CE recruitment team who identify eligible customers and make referrals where appropriate. CE is promoted regularly at recruitment events organised by Intreo and vacancies are promoted through JobsIreland and by CE Sponsors.

The general rule relating to eligibility for participation on CE is that the person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment for 12 months or more. This is to ensure that the scheme is targeted at those furthest removed from the labour market and who will benefit most from participation. The exceptions to the eligibility criteria apply to those who would be considered among the most vulnerable in society and include people from the Traveller or Roma communities and people with addiction issues or who have recently been released from prison.

My Department, working together with CE sponsors have made a number of changes in recent times to support CE sponsors in their recruitment and retention of participants. These changes include:

• A provision to allow CE participants who reach 60 years of age to remain in CE until they reach state pension age.
• Some flexibility granted to CE Sponsors to extend individual placements to retain existing participants in cases where no replacement is immediately available.
• Changes to eligibility criteria extending CE eligibility to the adult dependents of those in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance.
• A new pilot scheme to extend CE eligibility to those over 50 years of age in receipt of credits or a combination of credits & Jobseekers Benefit.