State job scheme numbers fall short of target

The Government fell well short of the 3,000 target it had set for the number of people it hoped to place on its “Gateway” job-activation scheme by the end of 2014.

As of December 12, just 1,700 people had taken up places on the scheme which has now been running for almost two years.

Under the terms of the Gateway initiative, dole claimants who have been on the Live Register for more than two years are paid an extra €20 per week on top of their jobseeker’s allowance to work for city and county councils.

An average of 19.5 hours per week is on offer in areas such as village enhancement schemes; landscaping; tourism ambassadors; animal control; and libraries.

The scheme is aimed at providing work in a local authority setting for those unemployed for two years or more.

The Department of Social Protection randomly selects people meeting that criterion and asks if they are inter-ested in working with their local county or city council.

If they agree, the relevant council will put them through a recruitment process and, if successful, offer the successful person 22 months’ work.

At least 15% of the places are made available to jobseekers aged under 25 years of age.

It was intended that each council would take on up to 295 people, depending on its size.

However, many large local authorities are nowhere close to meeting their expected target.

For example Dublin City Council, which had a target of 295, only had 33 filled as of December 12.

In fact the two local authorities with the highest number of enrolments, Cork County and Fingal County Councils, only had 132 people each.

The county with the lowest number of people enrolled was Longford, with just two.

It was followed by Laois and Clare with 16 each. Dublin is not the only city council to drop well below target. Galway had just 37 people enrolled as of December 12. Cork had 94.

Two large counties with relatively high unemployment rates, Waterford and Donegal, still have low enrolments at just 32 and 27 respectively.

The Department of Social Protection said that it had now moved its target of 3,000 places filled to the middle of 2015.

Joan Burton, the Tánaiste and social protection minister, said: “Gateway has been a little slower than initially planned, but a lot of the initial problems have been overcome and the councils are making good progress in identifying services where participants can add value and they have been actively recruiting.

“During November and December, a weekly average of 100 jobseekers were being added to Gateway.

“Councils provide excellent work environments and open opportunities for jobseekers to put their work skills into practice and to learn new ones.

“In line with Pathways to Work, Gateway is providing a bridge from unemployment to re-entering the workforce as opportunities arise.”

People who refuse to engage with the initiative do face financial sanctions including temporary disallowance (up to a maximum of nine weeks) of their jobseekers’ payments although, according to the Department of Social Protection, none “will be compelled to take up a Gateway position that would result in a decrease in the value of their family income or impose other hardships”.