Mr. John McKeon:

I would have to ask that individual why he or she had not sought to be on a CE scheme the previous year. I am being serious. There is an issue to be discussed. Of the approximately 100,000 long-term unemployed people, 60,000 are on JobPath. This means that there are 40,000 people who are not on JobPath or in CE schemes. The purpose of community employment is to provide a service to long-term unemployed people that will give them occupational activity and help to prepare them to return to the paid workforce. Community employment is a State employment scheme. It is not a job. Its purpose is to help people who are long-term unemployed to take their first steps back into employment. I have 40,000 people whom I would like to see move on to other things. If I take a person off JobPath and put him or her into a CE scheme, someone among the 40,000 is not getting access to that scheme. CE providers need to understand that their job is to help the long-term unemployed and that people other than those who are on JobPath are available to them. They should be working with those people.