John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I will see how it goes. I thank the witnesses for attending. Given the difficulty the joint committee experienced in securing the agreement of representatives of Seetec and Turas Nua to attend, their presence is welcomed. I hope they will provide the answers the committee needs and members of the public deserve.

I address my initial questions to the departmental officials. Mr. McKeon stated there was a need to ratchet up the number of staff in the Department to deal with high levels of unemployment. We have heard this argument time and again. Did the Department discuss with organisations providing employment schemes then and now whether they had the capacity to upscale, either from their own resources or with limited additional resources and funding from the Department?

On the term long-term unemployed, there seems to be a good deal of confusion about that term. Can Mr. McKeon define it? The Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures indicate that in January, 65,000 people were determined as long-term unemployed. In July 2017, some 73,122 people were referred to JobPath. In his opening statement, Mr. McKeon said the scheme was specifically devised to deal long-term unemployed people.