Mr. Darragh O'Connor:

If I was a lone parent taking up a place on a CE scheme at present, I would be receiving €237.80. This would be if I had one child. If there were child care costs involved, I would not be able to afford to take up the place on the scheme. If we are to be able to facilitate lone parents and people with disabilities to access CE, which is the main avenue for them to partake of work or training opportunities, consideration must be given to child care provision. I am reluctant to put an exact figure on it but some kind of additional payment would need to be made. This would be in recognition of the fact that people are obliged to meet certain costs, such as those relating to buying lunch, paying transport costs, etc. We would love the payment to be restored. In the absence of this, however, there is room for manoeuvre in the context of making CE a viable option.