Many people have done these schemes you are only allowed be on a scheme for a certain period of time and once that time is up you have to wait another long period of time to apply for another scheme, this is just another bull crap ploy by the government to make people think they are doing something about unemployment. I don’t know anyone who has managed to maintain a job from these schemes or that has gone on to get employment. Government tryin to fool people into thinking they care , if thy care they would try sort out the issues that are not allowing our economy to grow , we are responsible for 42% of eu debt come on how long are we going to let this go on.

But sure instead of looking at the causes we will just attack each other by attacking people on social welfare , wake up! By turning us on each other we fail to look at the real culprits ! FF, FG LABOUR who are still sitting pretty with massive salaries why they screw ye rest of us !

That office must be a registered charity/not for profit organisation, why shouldn’t they get extra workers, especially if those workers are benefiting from the experience also.

@Julie I’ve employed 3 of my part ce workers and plan to employ a woman who is on am internship with me at present. i employ 10 staff and manage 2 childcare centres. in fact i started my 22 year childcare career on a FAS placement. there are success stories out these too. :-)

Maybe you are located in a different area to me , that’s great to hear, but I know lots and lots who nothing has come of it, if we are realistic there are probably more unsuccessful stories than there are successful! It is just a smoke screen they could be doing a lot more to sort out the problem with our economy and generate more work. I live in a rural area that has been destroyed by recession lots of people that have done these schemes and none that I know have gotten any work out of it .

@Julie I work in rural community that is recognised as disadvantaged. we use our ce workers as special needs assistants as the government provides no funding SNAs for the childcare sector. we support and provide training for our ce workers to help them further their career. the problem is the wasted ce places where people have menial jobs cleaning, cutting grass in parish halls or GAA grounds etc where there are little or no future career prospects. my ce workers further their career and support the community. we need to look at the success stories and try to replicate them.

i am a manager of a community childcare centre that employs 10 staff but we also have 2 ce workers that we use to support children with additional needs as the government does not provide SNAs for the childcare sector. I started my childcare career 22 years ago as a FAS worker since then gaining experience and qualifications and now manage 2 centre with over 100 children on our books. If it wasn’t for my FAS placement i night not be where i am today. My centre has employed 3 of our past FAS workers who are fully qualified and exceptionally great workers. having these workers also allowed me to drop the piece of childcare to my families making it more accessible cost wise but also to families who have children with special needs. i am delighted to see these extra places but i am worried that the governments idea is that they displace could displace centres from employing core staff after all the idea of the ce place is to help people gain experience and\ or qualifications. ce schemes are good but they have their place but should not displace paid staff.

Can someone please justify their thumbs down, I’m just pointing out the positive side of the scheme I have seen first hand.

It’s jot a great really a extra 20 would nit cover travel costs let alone having to work a full week for 200e wouldn’t be worth while

Said people are already getting paid 188 for sitting on their holes so you think they’d be happy to WORK for 200 p/w?

John F your comment is hardly worthy of an answer. Obviously you have never met a qualified unemployed person who spends their looking for jobs on the go and not, “sitting on their hole” as you so eloquently put it.

You work 19.5 hours and if you pick up a part time job on top, it turns out to be overall a decent wage, if you play your cards right. Or else stay at home scratching your bollox watching Jeremy Kyle.

It actually works out as €10.66 per hour on a CE scheme, €2.00 more than minimum wage

Additionally preference will be given to those on drug rehab program’s. While this is not “pc” I would not be comfortable having my child in a crèche being cared for by people withdrawing from drugs.

I employ CE workers in my childcare centre who work along side my core staff to support children with additional needs and promote quality. All the CE workers are interviewed, garda vetted, had personal references from past employers that I spoke to personally and are fully qualified in childcare. In fact FAS won’t let any CE worker start placement in any community or childcare centre until their garda vetting is passed. In the interest I screen my CE workers as I screen my paid staff. Unsuitable people would never be employed in my centre as the care of the children is paramount and I’d hope this would be the case in other centres too.

Why doesn’t your partner apply for college as a mature student?

i did start my career through FAS and i know lots of others to who did the same. 3 of my own staff started out on FAS in my centre and i was delighted to employ them when positions came up. i know there are employers who are unscrupulous and misuse the scheme but most services appreciate the support the ce places offer. FAS do need to screen employers better and make sure the placements support the community but also needs career prospects for the people doing the scheme. the people doing the scheme also need to be there for the right reasons too.

soon as u take away the minimum wage all rights or whats left of them for workers will be gone simple as

But the downside of the German example is that you’ve had a massive rise in the numbers of “working poor” in Germany; people in full-time employment but also reliant on clothing and food donations. That’s also no solution and no way for a person to live. The delay in implementation of a minimum wage in Germany is not to benefit the worker, it’s to keep unemployment statistic down until after their autumn 2013 elections.

It’s €208 a week for the participant