Mr. Paul Carroll:

No. There will be a random selection for Fingal. People will be written to and invited to attend. Fingal County Council will notify us of those who do not avail of the invitation, as they are obviously people with whom we will need to chat. We are asking people a range of questions. It is like a mini-curriculum vitae. On the face of it, Fingal County Council will determine if a person is not suitable for the range of available opportunities and will write to the person to that effect while thanking him or her for expressing an interest. The other cohort will attend interviews. Arising from those, people will either be offered opportunities or Fingal County Council will notify the Department of what made them unsuitable. It is a much more structured approach. It is not a question of inviting people to interviews when they will clearly not be suitable for jobs, as that can be frustrating and upsetting for them.

Recently, we received from Dublin City Council an offer of 50 guaranteed places in respect of the Ballymun youth guarantee. Those young people will engage in a broad range of activities, for example, maintenance, parks, the arts, the library and community services. As the Deputy knows, the local authority engages in a broad range of work. We are trying to be creative with the kinds of opportunities being presented as opposed to what is most people's belief on the matter, namely, putting people to work picking up litter.