Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I have a number of questions myself. Mr. O'Connor said in presentation that the Government had announced reductions to the CE budget of the order of €36 million, and of 66% in the materials and training allocation. How did he come up with the figure of €36 million? In the presentation by Department officials they mentioned the financial review which says €20.5 million was provided for training and materials this year compared with €29.4 million in 2011.

The issue of double payment was raised. The feedback I get as a public representative is that most people felt the double payment was not sustainable or justifiable. Some CE participants had larger incomes than public service employees or even their CE scheme supervisors. The payment was unsustainable, from a budgetary point of view, and was a disincentive to people seeking work, in the public sector, for example, where they would earn much less. This would arise for people whose families were of a certain size and had large social welfare payments.