The Government has decided to partially reverse some of the funding cuts to the Community Employment Scheme announced in the last budget.
RTÉ News understands the move will mean some organisations using the CE scheme will receive more in materials and training grants than previously expected in 2012, but less than they received last year.
However, the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed says some may still have to close.
In December’s Budget, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton announced a two thirds cut in the materials and training grant for the 22,000 community employment scheme participants, to achieve savings of around €36 million.
But the announcement caused a major backlash, with CE providers warning services would have to be cut and in some cases closed.
As a result, the minister announced a review of how the funding would affect individual schemes and where savings could be found.
In the interim many CE schemes have remained concerned that the cuts, if not reversed, would have a devastating impact on their participants and services.
RTÉ News has learned that in recent days, CE providers around the country have received notification from the Department of Social Protection that the review is complete.
They have also received details of their revised grant allocation for the year.
While the Department would not give details of the revised average percentage cut in the grant, a number of CE scheme providers were notified of cuts of between 30 and 40% in their training and materials grant compared to 2011.
However, the INOU said it had heard of huge variations in the size of the cuts around the country and warned that in many cases it would put the organisations concerned under extreme financial pressure, and in some cases it was likely to lead to closure.
The INOU is among the organisations whose CE funding has been cut.
The overall budgeted amount for the training and materials grant for the year now stands at €20.5m, compared to a planned estimate of €11m.
In a statement, the Department said that grants, where possible, would take account of the circumstances of individual schemes and would be based on need, not the traditional grant model.
