Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Given the transfer of CE to the Department of Social Protection, its importance, the large amount of money spent on CE, the large numbers of people on CE and the 1,400 supervisors employed, it would be very odd if the Department did not conduct a review of this important and significant area of social, economic and training activity. I am aware that many people have asked why we did not conduct the review beforehand. Unfortunately, it did not arrive in the Department until 1 January. Second, as the Deputies are aware, there has been a number of extremely critical reports done on CE which, as mentioned by Deputy Wallace, did not take into account the social delivery aspect of CE. We have over 1,100 CE schemes and they encompass a wide and varied range of activities. It is important for the Department to make itself aware of the breadth and width of CE schemes because some of the criticisms of CE schemes arise from the fact that they are seen purely and solely as labour market activation and progression. That does not tally with the reality of many of the CE schemes.

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