State job scheme is 1,000 recruits off target

The Government’s Gateway job activation programme is more than 1,000 recruits short of its mid-year target. Just 200 additional people have been recruited since the start of the year.

The Government had set a target to have 3,000 people on the scheme by the end of 2014. However, by December 12, the total had reached just 1,700 and the deadline for reaching 3,000 was moved to mid-2015.

However, as of March 6, there were 1,902 people on the initiative which was set up more than two years ago.

When asked whether it was disappointed with such a low take-up over the last three months, just over two per day, a department spokesperson said: “Recruitment up to early December averaged at approximately 100 employees per week. Given the seasonal changes in activity over the Christmas period and into the New Year, recruitment reduced considerably.”

The spokesperson added that 68 participants have left Gateway since December 12.

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. Each placement lasts 22 months.

The department has said the initiative aims to improve the employability and maintain the work-readiness of those who have been unemployed for long periods.

It pointed out that county and city councils are free to recruit for the vacant positions. “The Department of Social Protection’s role is limited to the selection of participants for recruitment and for providing the resources necessary to pay the participants,” it said.

However, a table that it provided along with its response to queries showed that some local authorities are utilising the initiative much more than others.

For example as of March 6, Dublin City Council — which was allocated the largest quota of recruits at 295 — had taken on just 43. South Dublin was allocated 215 but had filled just 126.

Of the 55 positions up for grabs in Longford, five had been filled as of the start of this month.

On the other hand, Limerick had filled all 110 of its allocation, while Cork City Council had found work for 93 people out of its 110 available places, Cork County Council had filled 141 of its 215 places and Kerry had filled 70 of its 80 allocation.

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”.

Fianna Fáil has described Gateway as a “two-year community service sentence” with people having to work almost for free or be forced off the dole, while trade unions have claimed compulsory job placement programmes displace work paid at market wages.

They say that if there is work to be done in both the private and public sectors, then employers should respond by employing labour.

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