‘WITHOUT STAFF WE CAN’T RUN SERVICES’
FEARS MOUNTING FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES AS CE PARTICIPANTS FORCED OFF SCHEMES
THE future of essential services across north Kerry are under threat as projects lose vital Community Employment (CE) employees this year.
Up to 50 per cent of CE participants across north Kerry are being forced to leave their roles in projects, as they are no longer eligible under Department rules.
The loss of CE workers in Meals in Wheels, disability services and Tidy Towns projects, has lead to increased fears for the future of many essential and vital services.
In the North Kerry area, Lixabbey Community Group Limited are losing 11 of their 24 CE employees, from 16 different groups, as they are no longer eligible, leading to mounting fears about the future of services in Lixnaw, Abbeydorney, Kilflynn and Ballyduff.
“We deliver between 70 and 80 meals a day. Our delivery driver and chef are gone. Three people are gone from our laundry services,” said CE supervisor, Paul O’Donoghue.
“These CE employees worked through dangerous conditions and now we have to tell them that they have to go and go back on the live register.
“I have been 27 years as a CE supervisor and people do not realise the work these schemes do. Graveyards will be overgrown, villages in terrible conditions, GAA pitches not cut without CE employees.
‘ These schemes countywide will be in big trouble if there is no solution’
MEALS on wheels, Tidy Towns projects, laundry services, maintenance of GAA club grounds and stadiums and disability support services, are all under threat across the county due to changes in eligibility for current participants on Community Employment (CE) schemes nationwide that is now coming home to roost.
A ‘ ticking time-bomb’ will see hundreds of people across the county no longer eligible for CE schemes in the coming weeks and months. Without people, essential community services can no longer be provided.
A grave warning has been issued about the future of a host of community services given the huge amount of staff they will lose if the Government does not step up and change the eligibility rules for CE schemes.
“The bottom line is that CE schemes deliver vital community services like meals on wheels, laundry services for the elderly, the maintenance of GAA pitches... The spin-off from CE schemes benefits community and tourism. It is a big, big deal,” explained Mike Morris, who is the CE supervisor of the Cahersiveen Congress Centre, which has 16 different groups in South Kerry staffed with 32 CE employees. There are a further five schemes, supporting various groups, across South Kerry and in total there is between 130 and 150 scheme participants across the region. There are up to 50 schemes across the county in total.
CE schemes are in effect training schemes allowing participants to up-skill for employment while providing vital services in the community for the duration of their training.
While in many cases people successfully move on from the scheme, in rural areas like Kerry, jobs are not always available for people to move on to, nor is there a pool of people to replace those who move on from the scheme. This is the main concern now.
In 2007, the Department of Social Protection put in place eligibility rules – one of which is the length of time participants can remain on a scheme and the repercussions of this rule is being felt in 2021 as hundreds of staff are being forced off schemes.
If CE participants are under 55 they complete three years in total on rolling one year contracts and which must include training. Many now have to leave as their three years are completed. Once three years have been completed in any time since 2007 they are no longer eligible.
Those aged over 55, can spend six years on a CE scheme, three years on the scheme, one off and three again. 2021 is the end of many of Kerry’s CE participants’ three-year eligibility. These rules are compounded by the fact that only 10 per cent of scheme participants can be aged 62 or over, further limiting eligibility.
Due to depopulation across Kerry there is a shortage of people to replace the CE workers in rural areas like North and South Kerry, unlike in big cities.
The startling figures for Kerry show that CE schemes will lose between 30-50 per cent of workers this year. They are facing into 2021 trying to maintain services without these people putting essential services under threat.
“2020 was the third year of service for many... It is all coming to a head now in 2021,” said Mr Morris.
“This rule is now kicking in so what happens Tidy Towns, GAA grounds and Meals on Wheels? Community groups just won’t have the people to do the jobs
“The rules are the barriers and they need to be changed. For those on a scheme it is a job, a place to go. For some people on CE schemes in Kerry it is the same as having a job in Google or Intel in the big cities.”
While the rule is to allow other participants on the scheme, rural areas do not have the population for this, further compounding the effect nationwide rules have on rural Kerry.
Cllr Norma Moriarty has been spear-heading a cross-party campaign to try and get the rule changed. She, like CE scheme supervisors across the county, are calling for the baseline year of 2007 to be changed to a new starting point of 2019 to make more people eligible for schemes and thus solve the recruitment problem.
For now, following a campaign, a two month reprieve is in place until the end of March for all workers but the situation remains the same within months there will be not enough CE employees in Kerry.
“It should be changed to 2019 and wipe the slate clean for everybody prior to 2019,” said Mr Morris.
“The schemes countywide will be in big trouble if there is no resolution to the recruitment issue.”
Cllr Moriarty has sought a meeting with Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys.
She says the affects on South Kerry are detrimental.
“The CE schemes are vital to communities providing fantastic service at a fraction of the real cost .. I acknowledge the extension for current participants it doesn’t solve the problem. Once and for all we need to solve the eligibility problem before we lose the schemes and the valuable work they do and the social cohesion they provide”
The effects can be seen on Cahersiveen Meals on Wheels and laundry services, which have operated through the pandemic and are set to lose the first of their CE staff in the coming weeks. In Sneem, seven
out of the 17 staff must lost their place under the rules. These CE workers are involved in every single project and community service in Sneem from childcare to Tidy Towns, to Men’s Shed and Event Management.
“Every aspect of community life is touched by CE employees,” said CE supervisor Joe Murphy. He says the effect on individuals on these scheme must also be noted. For many of them is an social outlet and way to meet people and be part of their community. To be told they are on longer eligible will have serious repercussions.
“I have a person due to finish next week and there is no job for him and now he will be left at home,” said Joe. He said he and other CE workers have raised this continuously but no results.
“They ask questions in the Dáil and we all know the answers. They are not putting pressure on them to change the rules.”
Such rules only work when there is enough people to fill the roles again and in rural Ireland this is not the case. In the county’s main towns, Tralee, Killarney and Listowel the effect is the same. Sinn Fein TD Pa Daly recently put in a parliamentary question on the issue. In response the Department stated no-one will finish on a scheme until the end of March. However, this is only kicking the problem down the road and not solving it.
Some even fear it may be a way of closing schemes forever. CE supervisor with Lixabbey Community Group Limited, Paul O’Donoghue said that the rules must be changed. “It is not black and white situation. We need to change the year from 2007 to maybe 2018 or 2019.”