Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

There are three elements to the reviews. The first relates to identifying the services that are being delivered to communities. Like other Deputies, I recognise the importance of such services. I will not describe those services in detail but I am referring, for example, to meals on wheels, etc., which are extremely important to people in both urban and rural areas. The second element contemplated by the reviews relates to progression. There may be an issue in the context of the description of the schemes, which implies that they will lead directly to employment. As a result of this, our interlocutors from the troika want to examine the position with regard to progression. In respect of certain schemes, opportunities for progression can be limited. The third element is value for money. As stated earlier, there are up to 1,000 voluntary companies and this is a factor.

Deputy Ó Cuív referred to Tús. When I became Minister in March, although the Tús scheme was provided for, there was nobody on it. I spent a lot of time in May and June getting the scheme off the ground. As Deputy Ó Cuív says, the companies that got involved have been very productive. At the end of December, there were around 2,300 people on Tús and over 4,000 people on JobBridge. We have had almost an extra 7,000 opportunities, with more on offer, between those two schemes. It is critical that in the review of the CE, we get more opportunities for more people to have an option. That could be education, training, work on a CE scheme or work with JobBridge.

As Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, the unemployment situation is extremely difficult. So many people want an opportunity. There are many men in their 20s to their 50s who are now coming into long-term unemployment, and huge numbers of them want an opportunity to participate in the scheme. It behoves me as a Minister to create opportunities for people like that who have not so far had an opportunity, and I am determined to do that.

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