Donegal Senator Jimmy Harte has welcomed an additional 2,500 places for training scheme Tus to get people back to work. 
“This is a welcome development as the unemployment rate here in Donegal is very high” said Senator Harte.
The new positions will be distributed through Donegal Local Development Company and the Inishowen Dev. Partnership.
The Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton T.D. announced details of the first tranche of additional 1,100 places on Tús – the community work placement initiative.
This announcement will bring to just over 6,000 the total number of placements available on Tús. The additional allocations form part of the roll-out of 2,500 new placements announced as part of the Budget 2013 measures to underpin the Government‚s efforts to support those who are long term unemployed.
“This is a welcome development as the unemployment rate here in Donegal is very high” said Senator Harte.
This announcement comes as part of the roll out of an additional 10,000 work placements under a number of programmes and initiatives funded by the Department of Social Protection. Last month the Minister announced an additional 2,500 places for the Community Employment programme bringing the total places available on that programme to 25,300.
Minister Burton said “This latest allocation for Tús forms part of the Department’s wider efforts to help jobseekers to become job-ready and to find employment, training or an educational opportunity. More than €1 billion will be spent by my Department this year on a range of interventions for jobseekers to acquire work experiences, skills and qualifications to enable them return to labour market.”
The additional places will target those who have been on the live register for over 12 months and are in receipt of a jobseeker‚s payment from the Department of Social Protection. The remaining places announced in the Budget will be rolled-out on a phased basis during 2013.
Priority in this round of Tús placements has been to areas of the country where demand for work placement has been highest and where the local development company is able to deliver the placements quickly. Tús focuses on keeping a person work ready and providing additional supports to assist them back into the workforce or to pursue other training or educational opportunities. The duration of placement is limited to 12 months.
Tús was introduced in July 2011 and to the end of January 2013 some 7,400 people had commenced 12 months‚ work with local development companies.
Work placements are provided by community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations and the local development company matches the skill set of participants to available placements.
At the end of January 2013, 2,119 people had completed 12 month contracts. The variety of work placements provided reflects the broad nature of services provided by the community and voluntary sector. All administrative functions are undertaken by the local development company relieving this burden from the host organisation. Tús has a budget of €96 million in 2013.