How Tús reaches your organisation

Tús is Exchequer-funded, not EU-funded. There is no Managing Authority, no ESF+ regulation and no CPR Art. 82 retention clock behind it — do not import those from an EU map. The Department contracts the Implementing Bodies directly: there is no LCDC layer as in SICAP, and Pobal is payroll agent only. Two things to settle in writing before you rely on this map. Who is the employer of record — the Department's own guidelines do not say; delivery practice and Oireachtas evidence point to the Implementing Body, while Citizens Information says the host organisation. And what the Department actually requires back from you — no Tús reporting template, claim schedule, verification requirement or quality standard is published anywhere. Map what your contract says, not what the guidelines say.

Exchequer — Vote 37 (Social Protection), subhead A.14 TúsNon-statutory initiative · Ministerial functions under Part 3, Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010 · participation enforced under s.147(4), Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 20056,950 places nationally · funded from the Community Employment and Tús allocation, over €440m across both in 2024

How the money reaches an organisation

Every level here can be asked for its own process map. That is the point of yours.

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Department of Social Protection — Tús Unit

Policy owner and funder. Selects 70% of participants by random selection from the Live Register, issues the operational guidelines, and allocates a place quota to each Implementing Body

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Intreo Centres / Employment Personal Advisors

Issue the referral letter and take consent; approve assisted and self-referrals — the discretionary 30% channel, which Implementing Bodies cannot control and which drives their fill rate

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Pobal

Payroll agent only — processes the weekly EFT payment to participants on the Department's behalf. Not a managing, contracting or verification body for Tús

👉 Your organisation sits at this level

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Implementing Body — Local Development Company / Údarás na Gaeltachta

Approves host organisations, interviews and matches participants, issues contracts, supervises placements, reports to the Tús Unit. Employer of record in practice — confirm against your own contract

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Host organisation — community, voluntary or not-for-profit group

Provides the work and the day-to-day direction and names an on-site supervisor. Not the employer: pay, leave, discipline and grievance stay with the Implementing Body

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Participants

12 months or more on a jobseeker payment, plus no-qualifying-period routes: Disability Allowance, refugees, Roma and Travellers, JST from One-Parent Family Payment, and an 18-year-old pilot since November 2024

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Audit chain

C&AG (Vote 37 appropriation account) → DSP Internal Audit → Tús Unit → Implementing Body → host organisation. No Tús-specific audit standard, verification schedule or published quality framework exists — that gap is the finding, not an omission in this map

Process maps under this programme

Tús — Community Work PlacementTo give someone a year of paid work in their own community after twelve months or more on a jobseeker payment — so that they leave with PRSI contributions, a reference and a work history, instead of a gap that got longer.

Where this came from

Operational Guidelines: Tús — Community work placement initiative — Department of Social Protection

Read against the source on 2026-09-02.

What that check changed: A budget of €104.5m and a participant count were removed because neither could be found in the Estimates or in any Dáil answer. What is left — 6,950 places — checks out.