Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I also welcome the jobs initiative and the Minister's determination in implementing the aspect of it which pertains to her Department, namely, the 5,000 internships and Tús places and 3,000 back to education places. While we always hope for more it will provide confidence. We have said we are going to do something and we do it. It will be welcome news to the Irish people that we say what we mean.

However, we might go further. I refer in particular to community employment schemes. Approximately ten or 12 years ago some 40,000 people were involved in community employment schemes throughout the country. Now there are 22,500 participants. The places were reduced during the boom times when we had full employment.

The ethos of community employment schemes are different from that of Tús because an element of the community employment scheme involves the participants applying to be involved but, as I understand it, in the Tús scheme local development companies find placements and the social welfare officers decide where people should be placed. There are community employment schemes in place throughout the country. I have made inquiries and learned that the current schemes are oversubscribed.

I am involved in a local theatre company in my town and we cannot get people involved because there are no participants, yet we have suitable jobs and placements for people. From my inquiries I understand 1,000 people could be put into various schemes within four weeks, such is the demand, and over a period of time 20,000 people could be placed. If the duration of the scheme for any participant wer extended to two years after each term 20,000 participants would be rolled over. People would be involved in meaningful placements in work.

A lot of the work in community employment schemes involves tidy towns and local voluntary community projects. The work is tangible and meaningful in places throughout the country. A lot of the emphasis is on training and so on but we know that people who have been trained or retrained now find it difficult to get work. The solution is not to send our people abroad. Rather, as many placements as possible should be opened up for those currently in receipt of payments because work needs to be done in communities.

Instead of setting up the new schemes and so on, we should work with what we have. I am from Ballina, County Mayo, and we have 14 projects with 365 participants which is administered by one officer. FÁS is criticised a lot with good reason because of cronyism, etc., but that is an efficient way of dealing with schemes. We already have a system and structure. In a short period of time people could be put into placements where there is work for them to do.

Community employment schemes deserve to be examined because there are a lot of benefits for communities and participants and they have a place alongside Tús. I ask the Minister to consider the issue seriously.

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