Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to say I have had opportunities to personally visit CE schemes in most parts of the country and have had lengthy discussions with scheme sponsors and the people working on different schemes to see for myself the kind of work being done in communities throughout the country. I am more convinced than ever that CE has an important role to play in communities in providing the range and type of services it provides but also in providing a good-quality experience for the person who is on CE.

The review has thrown up a number of interesting points. I was surprised by the extent of administration involved in CE schemes, with almost 1,000 different companies carrying separate audit fees, and there is the issue of insurance, to which the Deputy referred.

My Department has been absolutely right in identifying these areas of very large and expensive administrative structures through very large numbers of companies and saving on those kinds of overheads. It is appropriate that my Department has been getting more favourable costings for insurance. It has been looking at amalgamating schemes which may be adjacent to each other in a particular area or town. It has also been working on future budgeting patterns for the schemes such as multi-annual budgeting which would normally be the case in organisations which are doing this kind of developmental work and supplying services to the local population.

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