Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Jonathan O'Brien for raising this issue and commend him on the measured manner in which he outlined his concerns.

Mayfield Community Enterprises Ltd. is a company that operates a community employment, CE, scheme based in the Mayfield area on the north side of Cork city. Currently there are 21 participants on this scheme spread among ten different community organisations and groups. The nature of the work undertaken by the participants ranges from child care and care of the elderly to maintenance of community and sporting facilities.

This scheme is fully funded by the Department of Social Protection. The CE supervisor on the scheme will reach retirement age in September of this year and the Department is examining the possibility, on operational cost grounds, of not replacing this position and instead amalgamating the scheme into several other CE schemes which operate in this area of the city. Such a move would have no impact whatsoever on the number of participants or on the services provided to the local community through this scheme. All participants on the scheme would remain in their current positions in existing organisations but would operate under the auspices of a different CE scheme. Such a proposal, which has been successfully implemented on a number of occasions in Cork and other counties, has the advantage of allowing all existing CE participants to continue their placements in their existing organisations while allowing the Department to operate the schemes more cost effectively. The Department has met with the board of the Mayfield Community Enterprises Ltd. to advise it of its intentions and has agreed to a further meeting with the board in the coming weeks to further discuss this proposal. I am sure this meeting will provide an opportunity for elaborating the concerns expressed by the Deputy.

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