Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 June 2026
51. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will consider further changes to the community employment scheme as part of Budget 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45904/26]
View answerAs Minister for Social Protection, I am fully committed to making the case for a fair budget that protects the people most in need in our society - particularly families on low incomes and those people, including pensioners and carers who are dependent on social welfare payments.
That is why the Programme for Government includes a range of commitments that will be advanced over the lifetime of the Government, having regard to the overall policy and budgetary context.
In Budget 2026, I provided for a €1.15 billion package of new social protection measures.
The objective of Community Employment (CE) scheme is to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and long-term unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their local communities on a temporary fixed term basis.
At the end of May 2026 there were 19,641 participants and 1,226 supervisors employed through CE across 805 sponsor organisations. The 2026 budget for CE is €415.00 million.
A number of changes have been introduced in recent times to support CE sponsors in their recruitment of participants, including:
• A provision to allow CE participants who reach 60 years of age to remain in CE until they reach state pension age.
• Some flexibility granted to CE sponsors to retain existing participants for extended periods in cases where a replacement can’t be recruited immediately.
• Changes to eligibility criteria extending CE eligibility to the adult dependents of those in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance.
• A pilot scheme to extend CE eligibility to those over 50 years of age in receipt of credits or a combination of credits & Jobseekers Benefit.
As part of the budgetary process, I will met with stakeholders at my Department's annual pre-budget forum. This will be a key input to the Budget 2027 formulation and the measures that I will bring forward for the consideration of Government.
Any further changes to CE would need to be considered in an overall budgetary context.
I recognise that employment, activation and income support programmes such as CE enable participants to make a significant contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling themselves for prospective future employment, as appropriate. I wish to re-iterate that the eligibility criteria, the duration timelines for participation and the referral process for CE continue to be kept under active review by my Department.
