Community Employment Scheme

IRD Duhallow Community Employment Scheme

Paddy O’ Connor C.E. Supervisor With over nineteen years’ experience, our CE supervisor Paddy has taken on responsibility for Health and Safety within IRD Duhallow, as Health & Safety Officer and has been instrumental in developing policies and procedures in line with best practice. Paddy supports the participants on our CE scheme in developing their skills and supports them to access training in their bid to return to mainstream employment using the online Individual Learning Plan Computer System. Each participant participates in the development of their own progression plan.

As supervisor, Paddy O Connor meets with participants regularly to ensure progress on their training plans and work placements. Claire Guerin works in Duhallow Community Food Services as a Catering Assistant.

IRD Duhallow’s CE Scheme The Board of IRD Duhallow made the decision many years ago to enhance the offering of the IRD Duhallow CE Scheme by tapping into the centre of Social Enterprises in Newmarket at the James O’ Keeffe Institute. The foresight of the Board in this regard, ensured that our CE scheme was in a position to offer realistic work experience opportunities to participants. These opportunities afforded participants the chance to work locally gaining skills in areas where real employment opportunities exist, something essential in order to ensure progression from the scheme onto mainstream employment. This approach is borne out again this year with four of our participants progressing on to mainstream employment from our Social Enterprises this past year.

We have made great strides in integrating our CE scheme with other Social welfare schemes including RSS, Tús, CSP etc. This Jakub Nowacki works for Duhallow Revamp where he integration while initially has gained skills in refurbishment of furniture. challenging, has resulted in greater team work and sense of belonging to an organisation, sharing common goals. It has also aided in the building of self-confidence and goal setting for people when they come on schemes initially.

COVID 19 Our scheme works across the communities of Rathcoole, Boherbue, Ballydaly, Kilcorney, Dromtarriffe, Lyre, Newmarket and Banteer. We have been allocated 26 places by the Dept Social Protection and currently due to COVID 19 restrictions, we are prohibited from recruiting onto the scheme. With IRD Duhallow deemed an essential service by the Department of Housing, Vincent O’Sullivan works as a delivery driver Planning and Local Government, for DCFS, where he meets older and vulnerable our CE participants have really people daily. DCFS has had a crucial role during the COVID19 crisis and Vincent along with other stepped up to the mark and have CE participants have played a very important proved in the face of adversity, part in ensuring services continue. rural communities really do pull together and support each other. Most of our participants are supporting their community by redeploying to meals delivery to the elderly, laundry service and keeping their communities in top shape by continuing to maintain green areas across Duhallow as well as public buildings that remain open and ensure they are cleaned down regularly and remain safe. This is testament to work ethic instilled in rural people and supported through our Community Employment Scheme.

Participant Development through Training A corner stone of Community Employment is participant development through training. CE rules state participants must work towards a QQI, City & Guilds or other Certificate qualification, which encourages people to develop long term training and employment goals and supports them to achieve their training goals while on CE and positions them well to gain employment.

Philip Burns does an excellent job maintaining Boherbue GAA grounds.

Joanne O’ Connor oversees bookings for training in the James O’ Keeffe Institute as par of her CE placement. This past year saw participants undertake training in Security Skills, Manual Handling, Driver Certificate of Professional Competency, Start your own Business, Interview skills, Supervisory Management, Training Delivery and Evaluation, Upholstery, Safe Pass and ECDL courses. All of the courses undertaken by participants are certified through SOLAS, QQI or City and Guilds. Three of our participants progressed to employment this year.

Scheme Expansion: Our scheme was expanded in June this year to take on the Kiskeam scheme as its supervisor was retiring. This brings an additional 18 participants onto the IRD Duhallow scheme and which covers the communities of Kiskeam, Cullen, Ballydesmond and Knocknagree. We will now need to recruit an Assistant Supervisor. Tom Dennehy, Kiskeam, was part of the sponsor group in Kiskeam and sits on the IRD Duhallow Social Economy WG and has made the transition smooth for all the participants.

Paudie O’Connor works as Stores man as part of his CE placements, encoding all community equipment for RSS, Tús, CE etc. is accounted for.

TESTIMONIAL:

Douglas Ballantyne

Douglas Ballantyne competed three years on CE in 2019 and gained employment with a Courier Business in Ringaskiddy. “I thought it was great experience to be on the CE scheme as it gave me the chance to work 19.5 while upskilling and completing courses at the same time.”

Rural Social Scheme

IRD Duhallow has worked with the farming community since our inception, with our Agriculture Working Group always looking for opportunities to support farmers and their families, especially low income smallholders. Farmers play an important role as custodians of the land and play a key role in preserving biodiversity, water quality and habitats for future generations as well as protecting our endangered wildlife. The introduction of the Rural Social Scheme in 2004 was a huge milestone in the lives of small rural farmers. The impact was particularly positive in Duhallow given the volume of farmers with smallholdings, little chance of off-farm employment and the shortfall of income to sustain the family. RSS gave the opportunity for farmers or their spouses to work off the farm in the RSS Helen O’Connor preparing meals for the community for 19.5 hours DCFS meals on wheels’ delivery service as per week. The scheme has supported part of her time on the scheme. many farm families to maintain their smallholdings, thus safeguarding our landscape and environment as well as improve their quality of life by participating as part of scheme with other farmers and working across a range of community projects and has done much to combat the social isolation experienced by many farming on their own. IRD Duhallow has 58 RSS places across 3 schemes. Join the Rural Social Scheme of community essential tested payment, such as Farm Assist, in order to be customers for DCFS. eligible. The rate paid to a participant on the RSS is equivalent to their underlying social welfare payment plus a top-up of €22.50 but there is a minimum payment of €225.50. RSS participants in receipt of a widow’s pension or disability allowance retain their payment and also receive a top-up payment which will also bring the minimum weekly payment to €225.50. There are vacancies available on the IRD Duhallow scheme currently so feel welcome to join our team or recommend RSS to a family member or friend.

Our RSS scheme contributes hugely to the work of Duhallow Communities by supporting the following range community work throughout the wider Duhallow region; Caretaking at community and sporting facilities; Energy conservation work for the elderly and the less well-off; Village and countryside enhancement projects; Looking Paddy Dillane keeping the footpath in Rockchapel after waymarked ways, and clean for locals to use safely. agreed loop walks; Social care and care of the elderly such as meals on wheels; Community care for pre-school and after-school groups; Environmental maintenance work such as Tidy Towns projects and Helping non-profit cultural and heritage centres. The RSS Scheme played a vital role in delivering the innovative conservation actions in both our LIFE projects

RSS supports a number Participants must be actively farming with a means services. Tom Healy delivers meals to various including clearing invasive species and protecting river banks and habitats

The RSS Scheme facilitates its participants to continue in their main occupation as a farmer while also working 19.5hours in the community. Brian Feehan RSS participant working on fencing in his farm. Covid 19 Response When the seriousness of Covid 19 became apparent, Local Development Companies were deemed essential services, and immediately stepped outside their comfort zones to help those in lock down and vulnerable. Our Supervisors gave fantastic example, Marie Fleming trained as a Covid Lead for the company and RSS Scheme, and as part of our Health and Safety Committee brought a set of comprehensive proposals, for introducing safe practices and protocols which, were approved by the Board and implemented across the company. Nuala O Riordan in the meantime looked after all the participant’s placements and safe return to work as well as taking on follow up calls to some elderly requiring assistance at home. The majority of our participants committed themselves to ensuring not only the continuity of our services but a doubling of outputs to meet the increased demand as some voluntary services had to go into lockdown because of the age of their volunteers. Our RSS participants supported Duhallow Community Food Services in the kitchens as well as in delivering meals. Our community laundry service with the guidance of Marie Fleming, reached out to those cocooning through the support of additional RSS participants joining in collecting as well as delivering laundry. Participants also supported our expanded offering of home grocery, fuel and medicine delivery across the region, while others helped by reaching out and keeping in touch through our friendly phone call service, making daily and weekly calls, with our senior citizens as well as taking referrals from Alone. All requests were responded to promptly. The local knowledge of our RSS participants of the region coupled with the communities trust in IRD Duhallow, was key to the rapid, comprehensive and effective Covid response in the Duhallow region. While some of our work in community centres was cancelled, these participants, having gone through training, adopted a new deep cleaning regime to ensure our offices and working areas were constantly sanitised along with a daily deep clean of vehicles delivering the services required in the community. This ensured confidence in a safe work environment for colleagues as well all those in receipt of our services.

Rural Social Scheme

Walks Maintenance IRD Duhallow administers the Walks Scheme for the Duhallow Way Walk, which stretches 50 miles from Bweeng, Co. Cork to Clonkeen Church, Co. Kerry, South of the Paps Mountains. Funding is provided for 25 local farmers and landowners to maintain and upgrade their sections along the route. IRD Duhallow’s RSS teams continue to support walking tourism RSS participant, Pat Shanahan, transporting gravel in the region through the to be laid out along the old butter road in Rathmore. promotion of our Loop Walks and with Nuala O Riordan often leading evening walks to encourage local people to use them for recreation and safe off road walks in order to maintain good health. Sports Ireland and the National Trails Office accredited walks must be maintained to the highest standard and an RSS team ensures markers are replaced and walks are regularly strimmed to avoid trips and falls.

Before,During & After A section of the Old Butter Rathmore underwent a complete upgrade with work completed by RSS participants.

Left: RSS participants Willie Walsh and Neilly Cronin renovating an old house along the old butter road in Rathmore.

Outdoor Recreational Infrastructure Scheme Our application was approved in December last year by the Department of Rural and Community Development for funding under Measure 1 of the Outdoor Recreational Infrastructure Scheme 2019 for the ‘Old Butter Road’ in Rathmore. We along with Kerry County Council and Rathmore Community Council are working collaboratively on this project having completed phase 1 of the upgrading works in 2017. The ‘Old Butter Road’ derived its name back in the 18th century when one of the main exports from Ireland to the West Indies and South America, was butter, because of the mild climate and the many dairy farms in the South West Ireland at the time. One of the main butter roads ran in an almost straight line of about 70 miles long, from Castleisland, Co Kerry to the Butter Exchange in Cork, where the butter was graded and auctioned off to the highest bidder for export. The Carters taking firkins of butter by donkey or horse and cart, brought the butter to the market, and it was a long hard journey, in all weathers but made much easier with the development of this long straight stretch of road. With the advent of the railways in the mid-1800s, a lot of the hardship was taken out of transporting the butter, but the road is still there though not used as often. The project involves re-surfacing works, stiles and marking posts and information boards along the Rathmore Section and will be completed by the autumn. It will be open to walkers and families and we hope to get it approved in time as another Sports Ireland Approved Loop walk. We RSS participant putting will commence work on upgrading two more walks the final touches to the restoration of a Sketter in Newmarket and Rathcoole under the scheme in in the Agri Museum the coming weeks. in the James O’Keeffe Foundation Newmarket.

Care & Repair Service Under our Care and Repair Service IRD Duhallow completed 35 small repair jobs in 2019 and continued to fit the carbon monoxide alarms donated by in 2018. The RSS teams support this work on the ground as well as other handyman jobs that support our high and growing elderly population to remain longer in independent living, which is what the majority want.

Retirements This year we said farewell to four of our wonderful participants Davie Joe Breen, Andy Collins, Hugh O’Connor and Denis O’Mahony. Davie Joe joined the scheme in 2012 and worked on environmental maintenance projects for RSS supervisor, Marie Fleming helping Kathleen O’Connor improved water quality insure all her renewal paperwork is in order. and improvement of habitats. Denis during his eight years with us delivered meals for Duhallow Community Food Services. Both Hugh and Andy were on the scheme for thirteen years, all were hard working men and during their time on RSS they were involved in numerous community projects right throughout Duhallow. The Social Economy Working Group and Board of IRD Duhallow commend the great work they have done during their time with us, we wish them all a long and happy retirement. The staff will miss them and hope that that they might avail of volunteering opportunities in the future with IRD Duhallow to stay in touch and share their cumulative expertise with our up and coming new participants. Due to Covid we were not in a position to formally mark their retirements but will do so as soon as we are permitted.

TÚS Community Workplace Initiative

Overview The Tús initiative is a Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection community work placement scheme providing a year’s working opportunity for unemployed people for 19.5 hours per week. IRD Duhallow operates its schemes in an integrated fashion with its other programmes including RSS and Community Employment. All works are designed in conjunction with the communities and are scheduled accordingly.

Participant Niall Sheehan painting Duhallow Community Food Centre Dining area, as part of the anti-Covid measures taken. Eligibility A person must be in receipt of a Jobseekers payment from the Department of Social Protection for at least 12 months. Participants work in a community placement for 12 months while still retaining their existing secondary Social Welfare benefits e.g. rent allowance, medical card, fuel allowance etc. The majority of participants are randomly selected from the Live Register, but there is also an option to “Self Refer” by contacting the Local Case Officer in your Social Welfare branch office.

This job placement has several benefits; Learning new skills, participant Alan it breaks the cycle of unemployment and Coughlan completes his Tús work instills confidence and reduces social placement in the kitchen of DCFS. inclusion. It is also an opportunity to learn new skills and to progress with further training through the wide variety of courses on offer here in the James O’Keeffe Institute. There is great job satisfaction achieved while working on much appreciated community work such as village renewal, caretaking community halls, meals on wheels, insulating houses etc. With the integration of different schemes in IRD Duhallow, Tús participants also gain from working as part of a team with people on different schemes and at different career points. Tús is seen as the starting point for many on their pathway back to mainstream

Tadgh Curtin is using placement further his media training skills, seen here filming the use of the arena, one of the facilities in the James O’Keeffe institute. employment, and the 12 months on the scheme exposes them to CE, CSP and other schemes with progression opportunities. The Job Centre in IRD Duhallow is available to support the participant with C.V. updating and interview preparation. The single rate is €225.50 per week or €134.70 for a Qualified Adult. Other payments in respect of qualifying children is €34 for a child under 12 and €37 for a child over 12. Participants are entitled to statutory annual leave during the 52-week period.

Benefits to the environment Participants Pat Murphy and Julie Tús participants have been working Messmer support the Meals on Wheels in teams with the RaptorLIFE project service as part of their placement. implementing habitat restoration measures in Natura 2000 areas. These measures varied from fencing back off the river, planting eroding river banks and hedgerow, to controlling invasive species on our rivers such as Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed. The highly damaging knotweed has also been systematically eradicated on over 400 km of road, which are vector routes to watercourses.

IRD Duhallow through the LEADER programme Tús participants working on the Raptor Life project habitat supported 5 communities restoration measures by removal of regenerating conifers to erect Swift towers in 5 near a Hen harrier nest site area. villages across the region, and our Tús participants were an integral part of this. Swift towers were erected in the past few weeks in Kiskeam, Kanturk , Macroom and Newmarket with another to be erected in Rathmore in the coming weeks.

Participant Martin O’Neill oversees the delivery of Discover Duhallow across the region, first stopping off at Duhallow Community foods with copies to be delivered by the Meals on Wheels

TÚS Community Workplace Initiative

Tús supervisor Nuala Riordan leading a group up Mount Hillary on one of Duhallow’s trails. Heritage and traditional works JAMES O KEEFFE GROUND MAINTENANCE Renovations work to the warmer homes stores which is part of the James O’Keeffe Institute courtyard building were completed by Tús under supervisor Don Murphy, a master craftsman stonemason. These works were completed under strict guidelines from both the Heritage Council and Cork County Council. The work involved the removal of existing plaster to external walls to allow building to be more breathable. Internal works involved the construction of new fire proof ceiling, lining walls with secil cork board and finished with a fine lime plaster, Ger Cremin and Thomas a new electrical rewiring Walsh using stone wall and plumbing was completed. building painting of building skills during their work placement the floor, together with the heating and plumbing which is overseen by works have been completed. This type of work Supervisor Don Murphy. has afforded participants the opportunity to gain invaluable experience and skills easily transferable to the construction sector and thus enhancing employability. years, which were very kindly donated from the public in the Duhallow area. With the guidance of supervisors, Tus participants and volunteers have restored these items back to their original glory, and in achieving this it gives the participants a real sense of pride in their work. This work also provides the participants with the opportunity to learn new skills such as blacksmithing, cart making, and fine painting of names and manufactures unique designs. Village renewal – community work CILLÍN FAMINE CEMETERY (MILLSTREET) Tús participants have almost completed the work on this graveyard. The work involved the strimming and cutting back of the overgrowth, which had not been touched in the past decade. Some mulching and repairing of stonewalls still remain to be done.

KILBRIN CEMETERY Tus participants completed the work of covering the older section of the grave yard with stone chip, a weed membrane was placed throughout and covered with stone. 40 tons of chip was provided by the local community. Christine Murphy works in Duhallow Community laundry. Demand increased during Under 25’s the Covid period with our Tús participants being key in ensuring the continuation of the Duhallow is acutely aware of services offered to people cocooning. the inter-generational nature of unemployment and therefore has focused interventions on households affected to ensure that the cycle is interrupted. Those aged under-25 who had been receiving a reduced social welfare payment can receive the full weekly rate when participating on Tús. These young people, many of whom have never had any previous employment, learn many of the important attributes that are required to hold down a job e.g. punctuality, reliability etc. In addition, participants under 25 on the scheme can participate in the Broadening Your Horizons, IRD Duhallow’s Youth Employment Initiative, where they learn to focus on the key attributes and traits of a valuable employee to assist their progression onto the labour market.

Covid- 19 The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent shutdown of Tús supervisor Daniel Murphy, disinfecting the majority of the country was a one of the Meals on Wheels vehicles as part of measures to ensure the safe operations of most uncertain time for everyone. essential services during Covid-19. We were notified immediately by the Department that Local Development Companies were deemed essential services. Our Board immediately developed a plan to ensure all essential services continued and all our schemes including Tús were key to its implementation and success. Tus participants stepped up to provide essential community services such as assisting in providing Meals on Wheels, the Community Laundry, providing the Friendly Phone Call Participant Tommy Culloty service to isolated and vulnerable members ensuring all guidelines of hygiene

VINTAGE MACHINERY RESTORATION Elfredas Gudonis as part of his work placement is IRD Duhallow has received many items of vintage carefully restoring a cart in machinery which were part of farm life in bygone the Agricultural Museum.

of the community. are adhered to in the fight against Covid-19.

TESTIMONIAL: William Dunne

“I joined IRD Duhallow on the as a Tús participant in 2018. Having been unemployed for a period of time it was good to be able to get back into the job place. I found the experience great, I learnt new skills such as stone masonry, gardening. The work was varied and satisfying. I enjoyed being part of a team again. On finishing my year on Tús and not wanting to regress back to being without a job, I decided to further my work experience by progressing onto a Community Employment position. CE affords further work experience with the added benefit of training and work place progression”.

William Dunne standing beside the stone wall he helped build during his placement in the James O’Keeffe Institute Heritage Buildings.