Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to reply to the debate on this very important issue which goes to the heart of our communities. I welcome and extend a céad míle fáilte to the many CE participants, from various parts of Dublin and beyond, who are in the Visitors' Gallery and who have been present during various stages of the debate. Those to whom I refer attended the solidarity protest which took place outside the Dáil this evening and during which Government Deputies were urged to support the motion and oppose the proposed cuts.

I compliment the CE schemes on the excellent service they have provided in communities for many years. Many of them provide services which are vital and which neither the public service or the private sector could provide. I refer to services that range from meals on wheels, community-based drug rehabilitation, child care, and so on. We have all benefited at some level from the provision of such services. In my constituency of Laois-Offaly, towns such as Birr, Tullamore, Edenderry, Portlaoise, Mountmellick, Durrow and Mountrath have vibrant CE schemes which provide vital services.

This afternoon I was delighted to attend a national meeting organised by SIPTU and IMPACT, which took place at the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise. The hall was packed with almost 500 CE scheme supervisors. That is the largest crowd I have seen in the hotel since the late Mr. Joe Dolan performed there. Today's meeting provides an indication of the level of interest in this. The Government needs to take note of it. Without the energy and vision of the supervisors many of the schemes and those who participate on them would not have reached their full potential. In many instances, the supervisors are the engines who drive the schemes. I take this opportunity to commend them on their excellent work. Long may they continue to do it.

CE schemes are worth every cent they receive. As stated in its election manifesto, Sinn Féin believes there is a need to build on the success of the schemes and that is why this motion was tabled. However, the Government has other plans. Each day, those in government feed us a diet of lies and inform us that there is no money available and that we are living beyond our means. According to the Government's budget for 2012, the funding for community employment is to be cut by €41 million. Interestingly, however, the funding for the Tús community work placement scheme is being increased by €54 million. Tús is the yellow-pack version of community employment. Rather than invest in community employment, the Government has decided to invest in Tús. The latter is a work scheme which offers short-term job opportunities. It is a scheme about which we and many others have grave doubts. There is no education or training aspect to Tús: it is simply a headline-grabbing exercise designed to reduce the numbers of those on the dole.

The Government, particularly the Minister, Deputy Burton, must be reminded of why CE schemes were established in the first instance. Community employment programmes are designed to help the long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged people to return to work by offering them part-time jobs and temporary placement in their local communities. Participants are encouraged to seek permanent part-time and full-time employment elsewhere based on the experience and new skills they gain while on CE schemes. There are now more than 183,000 people who are considered long-term unemployed. At a time when the Government should invest in community employment and build on its success, it is instead - via some form of perverse logic - doing the very opposite.

The Government has spun what it is doing as being good and healthy medicine for CE participants. However, neither I nor the supervisors I met this afternoon believe that. When communities saw through the spin, rallied and then applied pressure on Labour and Fine Gael Deputies, the Government buckled and initiated the two reviews to which the amendment to the motion refers. The Minister claimed that no CE scheme would close, that she would head up a review and that all would be safe in the land of community employment. What will really happen is that schemes will be in competition with each other for scarce resources. Those who operate the schemes have received letters, e-mails and telephone calls from Deputies that promised that they have the ear of the Minister and that everything will be resolved. Having engaged with the CE scheme participants and supervisors, I am aware that they do not want reviews. What they seek is a complete reversal of Government policy. There must be no ifs, no buts and no reviews: the cuts must be reversed.

The motion states that Dáil Éireann "calls on the Government to immediately reverse the cut of 66% to the community employment (CE) schemes' training and materials budget". In its amendment, the Government simply reinforces the position by stating "the baseline amount of the grant remains at €500 per participant announced in the budget" but that there "will be discretion to make up to €1,000 per participant available to schemes in respect of the training and materials grant this year, based on a clear demonstration of need by the CE schemes". The will happen when the competition between schemes to which I refer commences. In the Government's words, the cuts will remain the same.

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