Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

Ireland today, more than ever, depends on the strength of its communities. Those communities have withstood the reckless actions of bankers and developers in recent years. Right across the island of Ireland, they are the bonds that hold our society together. The proposal by the Government to cut the community employment schemes training and materials budget by 66% is an unmitigated attack on those communities and the people who depend on these schemes for help and support.

The Minister said yesterday that the troika has failed to recognise the "intrinsic social value" of some community employment schemes. This could be read as an implicit admission that the troika has instructed the Government to cut this expenditure by 66%. The ESRI's critical report on community employment schemes was based only on the narrow focus of job activation. However, these schemes are so much more than vehicles of preparation for open employment.

In Sligo-Leitrim, the area I am privileged to represent, community employment schemes provide affordable child care and home care services, support the running of meals on wheels services, facilitate the care of people with disabilities, keep our environment clean and maintain our towns and villages. They support the needs of older people and the delivery of rural transport initiatives. Community employment scheme workers deliver a fantastic service to the community I represent, and the loss of those services would be irreparable. Given that community is at the heart of the entire framework, it is impossible to envision how private firms would be able to replicate these valuable services. Reference was made to the importance of ensuring value for money. That goes without saying. However, I can say without fear of objective contradiction that the majority of community employment schemes in Sligo and Leitrim deliver exceptional value for taxpayers' money. These services are being provided at a fraction of the cost that would arise if their provision was a matter for statutory agencies or privatised firms.

A cut to the materials grant for community employment schemes will seriously hamper the work they do. They will not be able to afford necessary goods such as petrol for lawn-mowers, for example, or pay for light and heat in their buildings. The materials grant is central to the operation of all such schemes and a reduction of this magnitude will leave many with no choice but to close. The Minister says she will not close any schemes, but the decision to ravage the training and materials budget will, as sure as night follows day, render many of the most valuable schemes unable to continue.

How can vital services such as child care, home care, care of addicts and people with disabilities continue if there is no funding to train those involved? If trainees do not have access to basic instruction, schemes will be prevented from delivering their services to the community. Otherwise suitable participants will not be able to enhance their prospects of progressing into employment. Many schemes provide people with social or mental health deficiencies with a chance to make a positive impact on their own lives and on their wider community. I know people who did not leave their homes until they began to participate in a community employment scheme. That participation has had a major impact on their quality of life. If the Minister's Department were to suffer a decrease of 66% in its non-pay budget, could it continue to function? It most certainly could not and neither can community employment schemes.

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