Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Like Deputy O'Mahony, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this issue. I speak on behalf of the 19 schemes, with 326 participants, in my county of Carlow. One of these schemes, the Carlow regional youth service, employs 15 people at present. Last year, five of the seven new participants in that scheme graduated to employment. One went on to retraining and only one went back to the social welfare system. The level of progression is very good.

These are not one-size-fits-all schemes. A scheme working in the disability sector would be totally different from one attached to a sports club, for example. The training issue is important. Individual training is important if people are to progress to employment. If the training element were to move to the VEC system, as is suggested, we would have one bland system which would not help the whole programme.

There has been much talk about bad schemes and schemes that have been abused. There are also many very good schemes in the system. When the review is completed, will the schemes that have passed the review with flying colours be entitled to their full grant application?

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