Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will read the full reply. The reality is the projects are experiencing difficulties in terms of both referrals and extensions. For example, one project told me there is a waiting time to get on a scheme. For somebody who applies on 9 January, it will be the end of January. In the normal scheme of things, that would be fine but these people are coming out of residential rehabilitation and they need to get on a scheme much more quickly. On the other hand, people are being referred to schemes but they are not ready for them. The projects are getting younger, less stable and with a less ready for work cohort applying to the schemes. Sometimes it seems to be just getting people off one register and on to CE schemes, regardless of whether they are ready for, and can get full value from, them.

Those involved in projects have told me it can sometimes take up to nine months to settle somebody who has been active in addiction into a CE scheme. At times, it can take even longer, so their time can run out on that scheme before they are ready to go on to the next stage. Some may have used that time on a CE scheme on another project, for example, for stabilisation or whatever. They then go on to a scheme which is offering FETAC accredited courses but they may not have the time to finish that qualification. There are travel costs with some of them because some projects take people from all over the city. Some of those are under the auspices of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, so why can they not get a student card to cover some of the travel costs? There are also issues with child care.

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