Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am disappointed with the Minister's response, primarily because of the lack of information in it. Essentially, she summarised where we have been over the last couple of months on this issue. I tabled this question because I wanted to receive some information. I understood we would receive this report at the end of March. The Minister has said that the assessment is nearing completion. I suggest that the volume of work involved in the assessment means it will not be completed in the Department of Social Protection for a couple of months. We could be well into the summer by then. The Minister has told the schemes they can make the case for the funding they are receiving at the moment. I am sure most of them are doing that. If she wants to achieve the budget cut that she announced on budget day, will she have to implement that entire cut in the second half of the year? That would be a severe situation for those involved. Schemes are rolling forward all the time. What will happen to schemes that are commencing at the moment? I refer to those that commenced in the last month or two or will commence in the next month or two. I would like some clarification on where they are, in relation to their grants.

The Minister mentioned the position of sponsors. She asked individual sponsors to do a great deal of work when she sought financial information from them. Some of them are having difficulty providing that information. The Minister is putting a tremendous workload on small organisations with minuscule budgets, such as local tidy towns committees. The new procedures she mentioned will also impose extra costs on them. Can the Minister guarantee that the number of people who are currently working on community employment schemes and the number of supervisors will be maintained?

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