Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

We are examining options for private contractors. I referred to the local employment services. These are local companies which provide services on a one-to-one basis and offer an interesting and good model. These are not-for-profit bodies funded by the Department. They were formerly funded by FÁS. The annual spend on these programmes is approximately €20 million. There are other not-for-profit organisations such as Rehab which has been involved in Ireland and abroad in providing activation services. We are examining best practice in a range of countries, especially countries in Scandinavia and others such as New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and France. At this stage we have no detailed budgetary estimates. We are examining the options and the pros and cons of the experience of a range of countries.

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