Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Over the past number of years, CE schemes, by their nature, have changed more to labour activation, if I am correct. I want to follow up on the point Deputy Perry made earlier. Like all public representatives, we are contacted by people who would love to do an extra year or two on a scheme and, obviously, the rules have tightened up quite a lot. There are people who come to me at the ages of 62 and 63 who have been told that there are no more years for them. The odds of them getting re-employment are next to none if they have no training or skills in an area. Does the Department have any intention, as unemployment falls and perhaps it has extra money to spend, that people in that age category would be able to stay on a scheme until retirement age? Are there any plans for that at the moment?