Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I attended the launch of the Pathways to Work initiative to familiarise myself with the considerable change proposed. I was surprised to find the realignment of one third of the places on community employment schemes. My question is simple. There are 22,300 CE places at present. Of that, a number are termed "special CE". Does the realignment relate to one third of the total minus that figure or is it one third of the whole figure?

Has any thought been given to the effect this would have on child care facilities operating through CE schemes which take several years to reach the FETAC level 5 or level 6 that is required? Many CE schemes need a longer period of two or three years. One year simply does not suffice. Problems would arise if CE schemes were reduced to one year.

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