Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I understand we have to accept there will always be people who are between jobs, probably at the level of 3%. I am saying that, within those figures, there are people who are long- or medium-term unemployed. The training element in the community employment schemes, in particular, is minimal enough, yet there is this huge reduction in the amount of money spent on training within those schemes. That is an opportunity to get people, who are a captive audience so to speak, from unemployment into employment or better skilled. There has been a reduction in the fund for training people for employment, from €212 million to €130 million, and Springboard funding has gone from €22 million down to €10 million. Again, are opportunities being lost there? Is there a kind of acceptance that we are okay because 5% are unemployed so we have full employment? Are we just accepting that?