Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Work on that issue is ongoing. As the Deputy knows, responsibility for policy for community employment schemes sits with the Department of Social Protection but we are working on this issue on a joint basis. We are continuing the work that my predecessor as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and his colleagues did in the previous Government. We are trying to find a way through this that respects the Labour Court decision of 2008 but avoids much wider ramifications across the system. I am hopeful that we will make progress. There is an outstanding issue here that must be addressed. The Minister for Social Protection and I are working very closely together on it and I am hopeful that we can bring it to a conclusion very shortly