Minister Calleary announces grant funding to Community Employment Scheme sponsors

Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary TD, today announced that an additional grant of  €1,000 is being made available to all Community Employment sponsor organisations for materials costs.

Community Employment supports long-term unemployed people to gain work experience and training to assist them in finding employment opportunities in the open labour market, whilst also providing vital services in local communities.

There are currently almost 20,000 participants on CE with an annual budget of over €415m allocated for 2026.

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Minister Calleary expressed his delight at the announcement of the additional Community Employment grant.

“Community Employment is a very important initiative across the entire country. As someone from a rural community, with first-hand experience of the work undertaken in communities, I have always been a strong believer in the benefits and value of programmes like CE both for participants and for communities. 

“ I am confident that CE will continue to provide benefit and assistance in times to come to participants and communities alike.”

Minister Calleary also said this grant demonstrates the Government’s commitment to the ongoing support of CE.

“Participants on CE work part-time to provide essential services to local communities. These schemes support a range of vital local services in areas such as childcare, tidy towns, meals on wheels, the maintenance and upkeep of local amenities and other vital work in our communities.”

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