Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

There are two questions there. I said that we would make the names available to the various community groups. The Deputy has been working with the community sector for long enough to know that a community group will try to place people in jobs that suit them. I am astounded that the question of whether community groups would force people with qualifications to do jobs that do not suit them keeps coming up; I have never come across a community group that would do that. However, it will be mandatory for an accountant on the dole or a doctor on jobseeker's allowance who is called for interview to attend that interview. Obviously, the first avenue for people attending interview will be to try to get them into productive employment; the second avenue is training or education; and the third avenue would be a scheme job. It is absolutely fair to say that people will be placed in occupations that would be suitable for them. The level of community work goes way beyond trimming the hedges on the side of the road - important and all as that is. I have a list of all the different community work jobs, which is considerably wider than that. It is very degrading of community work to continually refer just to trimming of hedges.

I hope the Deputy will facilitate this happening. As he knows, I will shortly introduce a Bill, which I hope to enact before Christmas, to facilitate the final transfer of responsibility for FÁS to my Department. The purpose of that transfer is to do precisely what the Deputy suggests. In future when people go into an employment exchange they will also be activated in the same place in a seamless service. I look forward to the Deputy's full co-operation in getting the Bill through quickly so that we can move early in the new year on that.

See this speech in context