Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

It is worth repeating the deep irony of discussing cuts in the field of community employment at a time when there are almost 500,000 people on the live register. It is an obvious point and I have repeated it in the House, but it strikes me that this fact sails over the heads of those on the Government benches. It also strikes me that the Government has made a decision that people such as those who avail of community employment are soft targets. After all, that is the view that its members took of the DEIS schools and the so-called legacy posts. It is certainly the view they take of people who parent alone, the vast majority of whom are women.

It seems to me that the value of community employment has been completely missed, not just as a labour activation method and a crucial gateway back into employment for so many citizens, but also as a service provider. Perhaps it has been deliberately missed by this Government. What does the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs make of the cuts to CE by the Minister for Social Protection? The child care sector in this State is heavily reliant on community employment. Has she conferred with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and has that Minister taken a position on this matter? What is the view of the Minister for Health? My colleagues have already mentioned the very valuable work done by special CE schemes in the area of drug rehabilitation. Does the Minister for Health have a view on this matter? Did the Minister for Social Protection seek it? Do either of them care about the collateral damage that will be done to real people in the real world if the cutbacks that she proposes go ahead?

The services provided by CE schemes are many and varied. The Minister wants to cut the scheme to Pavee Point Travellers' Centre by €15,000. She wants to take €15,500 from Aware, which is an organisation that deals with vulnerable people who suffer from depression. In my constituency, the Dublin Adult Learning Centre faces a loss of income of €23,000 and could lose as much as 50% of its participants. This organisation provides a service to the most disadvantaged in our community. It offers a very valuable level of opportunity and access to citizens who otherwise would be denied those chances. Like so many CE schemes, it stepped in where the State failed.

If the Minister is so gung-ho not only to cut, but to undermine community employment to the extent that she will force the closure of many projects, then what does she and her colleagues propose to do to replace those services? What compensatory measures will she take, if any? Does she imagine that she can slash and burn and introduce cutbacks such as this, which damage service provision, families and communities, and walk away and wash her hands of the consequences? We do not want a review of these matters. The manner in which her review is being carried out is deeply unsatisfactory. I have yet to speak to anybody from any CE project across the State who believes that her review has engaged with the projects in any kind of meaningful way beyond crude bean counting.

A review is not sufficient. We want a reversal of these cuts. We know the Government is hell bent on handing over billions of euros to bondholders and bankers. That is its decision, but how deeply unethical and dishonest of the Government to do that on the one hand, and then literally to cut the ground from under disadvantaged people who wish to return to employment and who want a decent chance and a decent future for their children. What kind of a message does that send? Perhaps the message from the Government is that it will continue to look after the interests of the rich, but those who are struggling and those who are in need will get the deaf ear.

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