Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for the presentations. I would like to explore some of the existing supports and what exactly can be done to improve them. It seems that on schemes such as community employment, CE, Tús and the new work placement programme, there are vacancies and take-up is not very high. What is the misfit or what redesign requirements are needed with some of them to address that? Judging by what the witnesses said, there is a high concentration of people with lower educational achievement living remotely, such as lone parents, those with a disability or Travellers. What is needed to adapt what we have in the armoury or to change some of those existing programmes? That might give us a foothold in making concrete recommendations.

The focus of this meeting is on unemployment blackspots and there is substantial evidence that, in certain communities, cycles of deprivation are the root cause of low educational achievement from generation to generation. My area has been very successful with the early school area-based childhood, ABC, programme in Darndale, and the DEIS programme has tried to concentrate resources. New approaches are being adopted in some of these areas, such as more bottom-up approaches to community development. Are there better models of international good practice that could help us address some of these specific unemployment blackspots we continue to have within our communities? There seems to be something of a misfit although I know there are other issues, such as those relating to substances and so on.

I would be interested in exploring corporate social responsibility and the growth of that. To what extent is it being harnessed to address access for people with disabilities, Travellers or people with a low level of education? Is there an opportunity in that regard? Have any companies put in place good codes that we could try to have replicated in other companies? I know that, under corporate responsibility, companies sign up to plastic pledges and carbon pledges. Perhaps there could be some sort of a pledge in this area. Are there many of those?

The witnesses spoke about community hubs being a better route in, which I welcome. Will they cite one or two examples of good community hubs that have been successful in communities that are at risk? How could they be mainstreamed?