Mr. Jim Lynch:

It is a very strong focus for us at present. We are trying to ensure that there is an available intervention for people coming back from JobPath, the JobPath returners as we term them. The interventions we see as most suitable would be Tús and CE. We find that they often come back very enthusiastic about undergoing training because the year on JobPath, while it might not have yielded them a job, has given them a certain motivation. They are coming back to us probably more motivated from the point of view of trying to access something.

Our case officers work strongly with sponsors. We organise job fairs from time to time to try to get people back into community employment. I know Deputy Carey has just left us. We did one in Tulla the other day where we called in 140 people who might be eligible for CE. We had the sponsors in the same room as them and had our community officers selling the CE as a programme. We are engaging with people on a local level. If committee members have any problems in their particular areas, they should engage with the community development officers and the Intreo area managers to see if they can do something for them in the area because it is useful.

We have also done one in Newcastle West, County Limerick, and have done one in Limerick as part of our recent jobs week. We found it very useful. It also provides a network for the sponsors to talk to each other and provides interaction between our CDOs and our sponsors so that we can see the real issues on the ground. There is that informal piece that works behind the scenes from the point of view of targeting people. We find it works quite well. If there is anything committee members want us to do on an individual level in any particular division, they should come back to us and contact the area managers or division managers. We will be more than happy to engage with committee members if there are particular problems.

Deputy O'Dea will be very familiar with that corridor up around areas such as Killaloe and Ogonnelloe, a very prosperous area, and O'Briensbridge. We have particular problems trying to fill those because there is a local issue of being close to a good labour market in Limerick. There is a job available for anyone who is employable and many of them are taking those jobs. It is a positive sign in that they are not looking for CE because they are taking a regular nine-to-five job. We have other problems in west Clare, rural Limerick and some of the other areas where transport would be an issue for people getting to the labour market. We find CE fills a very useful function there.