Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will quote back to Mr. McKeon that he said it was a bad policy decision if that decision is ever taken.

Is the Department concerned at all at the type of jobs people are going into from the operations of Seetec and Turas Nua? Earlier, Mr. McKeon spoke a lot about catering, the hotel industry and the hospitality industry. Report after report shows that workers in these sectors are the lowest paid in the country. According to Social Justice Ireland, one quarter of these workers live in poverty. They also receive State benefits such as family income supplement because they are so poorly paid. There has been an increase in the number of working people in homeless accommodation due to the fact that these individuals cannot afford to pay rent. Is the organisational model of Seetec, Turas Nua and the Department working together to create this JobPath scheme concerned at the type of low-paid, precarious and often bogus self-employment that people are pushed into because if they fail to do otherwise, they will be penalised?