Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What the Minister stated is correct but one part is inaccurate. At the time, savage cutbacks were being made to community employment projects in Tipperary and numbers had to be reduced. We were told we had the highest number of people working on community employment schemes in the south east. If staff had taken up the job offers on other schemes they would have been displacing existing colleagues on those schemes due to the significant number of people being laid off.

The Minister indicated that Pobal investigated the situation and suspended funding. Those involved cannot be left high and dry with innuendo and bad feeling. The situation must be sorted out. Where there was wrongdoing it must be outed and there must be proper and fair treatment. The Labour Court upheld the claims of FÁS workers for enhanced redundancy who were employed on community employment projects in Wexford and Donegal. That is all the workers seek, in addition to having their names cleared, which is equally if not more important. It is not true to say they were offered jobs additional to existing positions because they would have been displacing existing employees. I was involved at the time. The workers involved had carried out dedicated, skilful work on many projects. They had made the homes of many people safer and ensured they had better living conditions. It is not good enough that this is all the thanks they get.

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