Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their attendance. It certainly is valuable to hear the information, particularly the thorough and informative presentation from Mr. Leamy.

I will raise a couple of issues with which I am familiar. I certainly concur with Deputy Michael Collins that the Leader programme is posing difficulties for many community groups. One of Pobal's roles is to protect the services and support the community groups. Could an intervention be made to call for a review of Leader in light of all the complaints that are coming in? We have raised this at this committee previously and a review is warranted at this point.

The Tús schemes throughout the State are doing fantastic work. From speaking to participants in my constituency of Offaly, I am aware they are enjoying the schemes and are attaining valuable skills on them. I could not compliment them enough. A number of supervisors from Tús schemes have met me recently, however, and raised serious concerns about how the JobPath scheme is taking some employees from them. People are very unhappy. The supervisors are unhappy but the participants, who had been enjoying their Tús scheme, are suddenly being pulled away and forced into employment in which they are unhappy and are not attaining valuable skills. This must be addressed. I took up this issue with the Taoiseach last year when he was Minister for Social Protection. It must be addressed because it is causing huge dissatisfaction among the participants and we want to safeguard the schemes.

The Tús schemes have been doing fantastic work. In many cases, they filled the void when we lost our town councils. They give participants an valuable opportunity that they would not otherwise get in marginalised communities. I reiterate the importance of an intervention to be made in that regard.

In terms of the PEACE programme, could a strategy to broaden this programme be put in place in light of Brexit? In terms of the priorities, is it possible that the priorities in the PEACE programme could be reviewed before 2020?

Could negotiations with the European Parliament be called for in that regard because we are facing Brexit and its associated impact?