Fianna Fail TD for Galway West and Minister for Social Protection, Eamon O Cuiv has anounced new proposals which will require 10,000 social welfare claimants to complete community work in return for their social welfare payments.
Minister O Cuiv says the initiative could begin as soon as next month and he says it will be welcomed by people who are genuinely looking for employment, and those who are not will vanish from the social welfare system. “Those who are genuinely unemployed will be absolutely delighted and those who aren’t will disappear,” he says.
A variety of work would be completed in the community such as assisting local clubs and societies, childcare services, helping the elderly, and a range of environmental projects. Minister O Cuiv says the new “social employment” scheme will benefit the unemployed and the wider community with the initial 10,000 social welfare claimants receiving E210 for 19.5 hours work per week. “We must create a better future for people who find themselves without a job; to provide them with work activity in the short term, to up-skill them and give them opportunities to get back into the competitive economy,” he says. “Maintaining people’s employability through regular work activity will be important for getting people back into the competitive economy.”
The scheme will originally run for a trial period of four months and if successful the scheme could be expanded to cater for 40,000 people over the next two years. Minister O Cuiv says: “Changing the way we approach our existing resources can unlock the potential of new ways to create locally-based jobs.”
Jobseekers will be eligible to apply for the scheme within a three to six month interim of becoming unemployed, and Mr O Cuiv says applicants will be assigned roles that are specifically suited to their interests and qualifications. Minister O Cuiv also added that if the required hours on the scheme were not completed claimants’ payments would be stopped.
Fine Gael social protection spokesman Michael Ring has warned that the scheme should not be mistaken for a jobs creation initiative and he stressed that a strategic plan for creating employment was still urgently needed. He says the Government is failing to create jobs, and that this initiative will only benefit a very small proportion of the 450,000 unemployed people on the Live Register.
