THE GOVERNMENT will spend €84 million this year to provide 5,000 year-long work placements for people unemployed for more than a year, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has stated.
Ms Burton conceded that the Government faced a “huge challenge” in sourcing opportunities for urban and rural people who are unemployed, but expressed a hope that community work placements provided through the Tús scheme could help alleviate the problem.
“I have been able to commit €84 million to the initiative in 2012 – a very significant commitment for this initiative given the economic situation,” Ms Burton said.
“Already almost 2,300 people are now in working environments and making a contribution to the organisations they work with, are getting to utilise their skills and develop new ones and have broken the cycle of being without work. I expect that around 1,000 more placements will be filled in January.
“This is not a substitute for full-time work, but research shows that measures such as Tús promote wellbeing and can open new avenues to finding sustainable work,” she added.
Potential participants in the scheme, originally announced in December 2010 by then minister Éamon Ó Cuív of Fianna Fáil, are identified by the Department of Social Protection. They must be continuously unemployed for at least 12 months and signing-on on a full-time basis. They must also be in receipt of a jobseeker’s payment from the department for at least a year and in receipt of the jobseeker’s allowance.
The initiative offers opportunities to work in the community and voluntary sectors which are facing pressures because of the economic downturn and increased demands for services.
The 52-week placements can include energy conservation work in homes and community buildings; renovation of sporting facilities and repair of equipment to be sent to the developing world, such as farm tools, sewing machines and bicycles.
Tús participants are paid a personal rate of €208 a week. The maximum rate of increase for a qualified adult is €124.80. In cases where a participant has a child or children, there may be an entitlement to full-rate (€29.80) or half-rate (€14.90) increases for each child.
Last May, Ms Burton said she was “a bit surprised” to find that none of the Tús places announced the previous year had been activated. The initiative is being delivered through a network of local development companies nationally and Údarás na Gaeltachta in Gaeltacht areas.
