2011. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Social Protection the engagement he has had with CE scheme supervisors regarding flaws in the scheme for workers to join the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60969/26]

The objective of Community Employment (CE) scheme is to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and long-term unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their local communities on a temporary fixed term basis.

In addition to providing eligible people with valuable occupational experience and training as a stepping-stone to employment in the open-labour market, schemes such as CE also support important and, in many cases essential, local community services.

The OECD in a published review of the CE and Tús schemes found a positive impact on the employment and earnings of participants, especially for older participants on CE and younger participants on Tús. The review also found that participants are less likely to rely on disability payments and are more likely to find employment after their participation.

At the end of August 2026 there were 19,445 participants and 1,227 supervisors employed through CE across 802 sponsor organisations. The 2026 budget for CE is €415 million.

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.

Thankfully, given the strong labour market performance, the number of unemployed people dependent on social welfare payments remains low. While this is very welcome, it also means that the number of candidates available for CE also falls, creating a challenging recruitment environment. These challenges are the same facing employers across the wider labour market.

Having said that, it is not an insurmountable challenge, and working together with CE sponsors a number of initiatives have been taken 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 retain existing participants for extended periods in cases where a replacement can’t be recruited immediately.

• Changes to eligibility criteria extending CE eligibility to the adult dependents of those in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance.

• A pilot scheme to extend CE eligibility to those over 50 years of age in receipt of credits or a combination of credits & Jobseekers Benefit.

• Officials from my Department hold regular meetings with unions representing CE supervisors and CE assistant supervisors and continue to engage on issues relating to Community Employment.

• I am fully committed to the future of this programme and will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of the CE participants, given the valuable contribution being made to local communities through the provision of services.

• I hope this helps clarify the position for you.