Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It has been my experience of working with CE schemes in County Galway that the opposite applies in that we are actually finding it difficult to facilitate people who want to get on to a scheme. With 450,000 people on the live register, I also find it difficult to believe there is a crisis of recruitment from the ranks of the unemployed into CE schemes. The figures are pretty stark. The numbers on CE schemes receiving jobseeker’s allowance has increased by 20% since the end of the last year and has increased steadily since mid-2009 due to the changed demographics in the jobseeking population.

As with any other Government scheme, it must evolve to respond to the challenges of the day. Perhaps the ambition of the CE scheme when we had full employment is substantially different from that of now. With 100,000 people unemployed from the construction sector, it is important to be able to facilitate as many of these people as we possibly can in engaging with their local communities, feeling they are making a contribution to society as well as being able to avail of sufficient and topical training opportunities that will allow them get back into the workforce. We are seeing the evolution of the scheme to cope with challenges that arise today. The scheme’s make-up may be different. With 450,000 people unemployed and Ireland losing €44 million per day, we have to make some difficult decisions. The decision taken by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, on the CE schemes is correct.

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