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

First of all, the purpose of JobPath is not only to get somebody a job. It is to make sure that he or she keeps it and that we support him or her. It is a holistic service. It is not only about getting somebody his or her CV, sitting the person in front of an employer and making sure he or she gets the job. It is making sure the person maintains sustainability within employment. That will last much longer than the day after the person gets the job. There are the payments thereafter to hopefully keep participants in their jobs so that they can then go off and not need our support afterwards. We never anticipated JobPath to be as successful as it was. It exceeded our expectations last year.

We still have 198,000 people on the unemployment register. It is my job, and our collective job, to make sure that those people find jobs in an environment where there are more jobs than there are people at present, and every support that people need to be able to get the jobs that are readily available today. We have a jobs fair in Dublin Castle tomorrow that I will go to where there will be far more employers with work than there will be people to fill that work. We need to continue to make sure, with whatever support is available to people who cannot currently get work, that we help them to get work.