Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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546. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her Department will ensure job initiative scheme supervisors are treated the same way as community employment scheme supervisors in terms of their pension entitlements (details supplied). [9657/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Department of Social Protection delivers a range of employment and income support schemes including Community Employment (CE) and the Job Initiative (JI) Scheme. These schemes are delivered by independent bodies funded by the Department. CE and JI are delivered by sponsoring authorities and managing agents. While the Department funds participant and supervisor wages, the Department is not the employer of any scheme participants, their supervisors or team leaders.

The State is not responsible for funding pension arrangements for employees of private companies, even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding. Pension arrangements are a matter to be agreed between employees and their employers. All employers, including CE and JI sponsoring organisations are legally obliged to offer access to at least one Standard Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) under the Pension (Amendment) Act 2002.

As the Deputy will be aware, CE supervisors and CE assistant supervisors have been seeking for several years through their union representatives, SIPTU and Forsa, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme for CE supervisors and CE assistant supervisors who are employed by CE scheme sponsoring organisations.

Within this context, officials from my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform held discussions on proposals to progress and resolve this complex issue, while having regard to the wider budgetary framework. Department officials also held discussions with unions representing CE supervisors and CE assistant supervisors.

These discussions were held on the clear agreement of all involved that they related solely to those parties who were the subject of the 2008 Labour Court recommendation, namely CE supervisors and CE assistant supervisors, and any agreement reached on the proposal arising from these discussions would apply only to those parties.

I wish to acknowledge the valuable and dedicated service that JI team leaders and JI participants provide in delivering local based community services. My Department is fully committed to the future of employment support programmes and will continue to support and improve them for the benefit of the supervisors, team leaders and participants, given the valuable contribution being made to local communities through the provision of services.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.