Mayo TD welcomes extension of CE schemes to include new residents

A Mayo TD has welcomed news that Community Employment Schemes are to be extended to include Ukrainian refugees to help address the recent drop in participants.

Deputy Alan Dillon raised the issue of staffing affecting voluntary and community organisations across the country as interest in the labour activation schemes continues to drop.

Despite some reform initiatives last year such as those concerning Tús, RSS and the Community Employment (CE) Scheme, participant numbers are continuing to fall.

Deputy Dillon said GAA clubs, community councils, Tidy Towns and sporting organisations are all suffering from a shortage of applicants.

He stated: “To resolve this issue, I urge the government to consider expanding the CE Scheme to enable Ukrainian refugees to participate by removing the 12-month signing-on period, given the shortage of applicants across the country and the influx of Ukrainians who may wish to avail of the scheme.

"It would also be cost-effective for the government and would promote social inclusion by allowing our Ukrainian guests the opportunity to engage in the workforce, improve their English-speaking skills and contribute to their local communities,.

Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys said her department had carried out a number of reviews of the CE Schemes.

She explained “We have changed some of the criteria to expand it and to allow groups to keep workers for longer.

"There have been a number of very positive changes in that regard.

“It is almost a year since the first Ukrainian refugees came to this country. We are opening up the CE Scheme to them now.

"We look forward to working with them and getting them on board.

"This is very valuable because we can help them with job activation measures and maybe with language classes. It is a great opportunity to help them to integrate into communities.”

Minister Humphreys thanked Deputy Dillon for raising the matter and noted she was happy to work with him to progress this further.