John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for her contribution. I believe these particular CE schemes are crucially important, both for the individuals and their families but also for people who have a drug addiction because they are given hope for the future. I recently met Mr. Paul O'Toole, the director general of FÁS, to discuss this. A point the Deputy might not realise is that there are 1,000 ring-fenced places but until recently only 700 to 800 people were taking them up. We were not able to get the 1,000 people. That is a piece of work but we have improved. Since I became aware of these factors we have worked hard. Those who go onto these types of courses, who come from a background of addiction, need a degree of pre-preparation before they can go onto the CE schemes. I asked FÁS specifically to start looking at and monitoring the individuals who come in. Some drop out at early stages so there are a number of issues.

The schemes have huge potential. Deputy Byrne asked specifically whether those who had completed three years could be retained longer. From an ideological point of view I do not have a hang-up about that but have one concern. In itself, community employment is not the answer. It is a stepping stone and I do not want the focus to be taken away from that.

In my reply I mentioned the continuum of care. It is greatly important that a person should have a degree of preparation before going onto a CE scheme. The time spent in CE does not mean only doing that particular job but is a preparation for progression. One of the problems I constantly encounter dealing with drug-related issues is that sometimes we do not look at progression. We think providing more of the same is sufficient but it is not. We need to have higher expectations and goals by which we can move people along successfully and incrementally. The steps may be small but step by step they will move along.

In that regard, I view the weakness not as the three-year period but that we need to have clearer paths so that when a person completes the three years on CE there will be somewhere to go. I also emphasised that the period prior to going on to a scheme is equally crucial because I am aware some people enter CE schemes and do not last long on them. That is due to being ill-prepared and so forth. At both ends of the three-year period there is a piece of work to be done which falls into the category of continuum of care. I view CE schemes as being crucial for real rehabilitation for former drug users.

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