Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

As the Deputies appreciate, the schemes only came under my remit on 1 January. They will make a very important contribution. The Government, in the budget, maintained the numbers and its commitments to the schemes. It is important that this message goes out.

With regard to schemes that have contracts, as described by a number of Deputies, if the scheme representatives deal on a one-to-one basis with regional social welfare employment officials, formerly FÁS officials, who are now managing them, they will note contracts which are legal commitments will be honoured to the point when they arise again. We are undertaking that no scheme will be forced to close until after the review has been completed. It is important to understand that, in the context of the troika, the criticism of activation and the budget we have been given, we have been asked to find savings. We need to find them. I accept Deputy Deering's point that there is definitely scope for saving with regard to shared insurance costs and other shared costs. I cannot, however, emphasise enough how critical it is for schemes to be in communication with former FÁS management, who are now officials in the Department of Social Protection.

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