Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I do not have figures for July and August 2008, when the officials in question were very active. They have dealt with 10,000 new cases since September 2008. That was the real focus. The fact there has been an increase in the number of people availing of the back to education scheme is evidence of that. That was a successful project. It is an example of the success that can be achieved when certain people are targeted. This type of co-ordination is taking place at local level. The facilitators are at the centre of it. I met some facilitators in Dún Laoghaire recently. I also met some facilitators in Castleblayney two weeks ago. I was told that certain things are being dealt with by certain officials. They are co-ordinating it between them. We need this type of co-ordination of service. I accept that everybody on the live register needs some kind of support. The level of intensive support the facilitators originally set out to provide is probably not necessary for everybody. I am interested in trying to continue to support it, however.

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