Mr. Michael Bowe:

There are three parts. When a person is referred to the two entities to which the Deputy referred, they are locked in for a period of time. There is clear evidence from the last quarter of 2017 that in coming up to the end of the year they are referred back by the Department to the companies. There certainly have been no changes to the Tús, rural social or community employment schemes. The one exception is the back-to-work enterprise allowance, BTWEA, scheme. Where an individual is with either Turas Nua or Seetec but would like to set up a business and qualify for the BTWEA, he or she can be released back to the partnership company. It is an interesting complementary service between the Department and SICAP where two programmes works in tandem for the benefit of an individual and the outcome is self-employment. The BTWEA scheme referral is the only exception of which I know and we are providing the service across the country. My colleagues can correct me if I have it wrong, but there is certainly no move under the community employment and Tús schemes. We are seeing evidence that as contracts come to an end people are being referred back under an agreed protocol to the partnership companies. That is probably why we are seeing an increase in the last quarter in the percentage quota. It came up a little as programmes were coming to an end. I hope I have addressed the question.