Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support what my colleagues have said. In a parliamentary reply of 20 October, the Department stated the 2020 CE budget was €364 million, which would provide for approximately 22,750 places, but at the end of September, there were only 19,315 participants, which leaves 3,400-odd vacancies. That is serious. I was told that at the end of August, there were 2,270 vacancies in the Tús programme. When those two figures are added together, that is 5,000. I understand that names are not being put forward to the CE companies that have vacancies and that badly need the workers but cannot get them because the names are not being put forward. I understand that the reason for that relates to JobPath. I have never favoured JobPath as an approach. I am very wary of privatising and monetising data because it is a game of just calling everyone in and getting paid. If the people who would have got a job then get one, JobPath is paid again. If there were no JobPath, 99% of the people who get jobs would get them in any event. I am absolutely convinced of that and I had the experience of employing people when I was the manager of a co-operative. Most people who lose employment find it again, because the world goes around and they get into employment.

I agree with what my colleague said about JobPath. For three reasons, namely, local services, personal well-being and the national good, we should examine the CE and Tús schemes and ensure that all the places are taken up. We should have a hierarchy whereby if a vacancy arises, somebody new coming in should have first preference, but if such a person cannot be found, the people already in place should be kept indefinitely because there is nobody else to take the position, particularly in the case of the Tús scheme. We should move away from the one-year model for Tús.