Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are two issues. The econometric analysis is being finalised and I hope to have it in January but the preliminary findings are looking good and that is the report, alongside the position on our projected targets, that will determine what we will need going forward. I do not know right now what the needs of those 127,000 people who are full-time unemployed, as announced this morning by the CSO, are going to be in a number of years but we will have to devise schemes to make sure that they are as successful as JobPath has been for us in recent years, but that might change.

Any changes in that route will come from the econometric review that we have done on JobPath but the Deputy is aware that I have also commissioned an Indecon report on the review into LESN's and our jobs clubs. I am currently assessing that and I only started reading it last week. All of that will feed into the State's service and provision of activation for some 86,000 people who are unfortunately long-term unemployed and the entire 127,000 people who are full-time unemployed.

If the figures on the unemployed and underemployed are looked at, there are 197,000 people, so there is still a big body of work to be done. I know that we constantly say that when we get to the magic number of 4% we will have reached full employment, as if we should nearly give up, say that is grand and the job is oxo, but there are 197,000 people in this country who are unemployed or underemployed and we will not stop trying to help them get full-time employment until they do. We have a lot of work to do and there are big decisions to be made next year, but it is to be hoped members will play a role in those decisions next year.