Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. I wish to refer to Deputy Barry’s amendment. The CRSS is similar to the TWSS and EWSS, which is a very significant use and investment of State resources in the private sector. Yet again, we have failed to use this opportunity to drive better outcomes for working people. It is fairly routine across Europe when investments and state interventions of this nature occur that the state seeks to gain some leverage to provide for a better public policy outcomes. Regrettably, we have missed this opportunity yet again.

Time and again since, for example, the introduction of the TWSS in March and early April of this year, I have advocated to attach conditions to the investment of vast sums of State funding in the private sector, resources that are required at this point in time to ensure that people remain connected to their employment, but we should not miss out on using an opportunity such as this to drive better social and economic outcomes for everybody. That is a point that ought to be made time and time again.