Ms Kathleen Stack:

The point has been made that, by their whole nature, community employment schemes evolve. At the end of my opening statement I said that community employment is a unique scheme. It is peculiar in the sense that one could argue that the motivation for the sponsors is different from the motivation for the individuals and sometimes that is a marriage that might be hard to sustain. What the community group and the sponsor are trying to do is to deliver a service to the best of their ability and at a satisfactory level, and they are trying to keep people as long as they can to keep the service on the go. The perspective of an activation authority such as the Department is to try to train up the individual and move them on in order that they can progress to a job. There are almost competing aims and objectives in the scheme. That said, we all acknowledge the significant role that community employment plays in a range of areas throughout the country, for example, from the local GAA pitch, child care, social care and elderly care. It is a challenge. We have long debated in the Department the appropriate length of time to remain on a scheme, be it one, two or three years. What we came up with reflects a lot of what the OECD and other bodies would say, that programmes such as community employment have a major role to play when there is a downturn in the economy and a recession, but that these numbers should be reduced and the period that people stay on them should be a lot shorter when the economy is getting better. We arrived at a duration of one year as being the best balance we could get in terms of what we are about. We have a facility to extend it to two or three years, and my colleague, Ms Shanley, will say a little bit more about that.

I accept the Chairman's point on areas of significant disadvantage, and we can have a look at that. It is coming back to segregation. The people involved in activation are closer to the labour market and are able to progress that little bit faster, whereas people in the social inclusion area take a bit longer. They are probably out of the school and training system for a longer period and it can take them longer. I take on board the Deputy's point on that issue. We try, in so far as we can, to fill vacancies on community employment schemes and to provide replacements as quickly as possible. However, our capacity to do so is determined by who is on the live register in a local area. For example, places on a child care scheme tend by their nature to appeal to younger people. If those on the live register are all aged 50 or over, they may not be that interested. Sometimes it is a case of the supply not matching the demand. That has to be managed in a local area. My colleague, Ms Shanley, will comment.