Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for the presentation. If possible, I will group together a few questions regarding JobPath. In Dublin, there are more than 5,000 participants and it will be rolled out to 60,000 nationally. Will JobPath be seen eventually to replace all the other schemes?

I want to touch on sanctions and travel. Who determines what is a reasonable distance and what sanctions will be taken? Is it indirectly a private company that decides ultimately whether the sanctions apply?

I want to touch on the rules of governance on JobPath as well. What conditions govern the procedures of the programme? Is there any code of practice, for instance, within the private companies relating to vulnerable persons? What auditing process takes place?

I have a few concerns about the private companies operating the programme. In a case I have seen, for instance, I had a 62 year old lady come to see me who is on the programme. She found herself very distressed. She went to see her adviser and she was given a sheet with 15 vacant slots on it to which she had to go and present. She then had to bring that sheet back so that it could be said she had looked for employment. It had to be stamped by employers. This was her second occasion to do this. At that age, she felt it was a little degrading to be knocking at the door of places. I took the day to go with her. We got only two signatures and two stamps because companies now do not have management available.

Is there another way of looking at this? Can persons present forwarded e-mails to show that they have been contacting companies? As the officials will be aware, when a person presents at the local supermarket, he or she is always told to send a CV to head office. I am wondering about such issues because it is not nice to be going around knocking on doors and asking for an employer to stamp the form. In this woman's case, many of those she met were a lot younger than she was and she did not find it good.

Will the officials also explain the complaints procedures if somebody has an issue? Have there been many complaints regarding the programme?

The officials mentioned the report that was to be published. We all expected a report in the second quarter of 2016 regarding the impact of cuts to those under 26. At what stage is the report and when will we be looking at it?