David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It was the small item from last week. It was correspondence from the Secretary General of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection regarding his last visit here. I posed a number of questions to him regarding JobPath and its overall cost, which I think has been over €70 million. I asked specific questions about referrals. I asked whether it was possible for somebody to be referred a third time and he said "No". I think he said it was almost impossible for somebody to be referred a third time. My colleague put down a parliamentary question only to find out that not only were people referred a third time, some people had been referred a fourth time. There is a cost involved every time somebody is referred. Can we go back and get a breakdown from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection as to how many people have been referred once, how many have been referred a second, third and fourth time, the total cost and why? We are spending significant amounts of money on this and if it is the case that somebody is being placed for a third or fourth time, something is not working. I would like that clarified. Although the Accounting Officer may not have known, he was certainly very clear. I think he said that it was almost impossible for somebody to be referred a third time. In some cases, it was for a fourth time.