Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Social Protectin, Deputy Joan Burton, is well aware of some of the special community employment schemes in the city of Dublin and other areas. A special community employment scheme is one which can help those participating in drug rehabilitation programmes and recovering from drug abuse. It is one way the State has helped those who are down on their luck and have managed to take the first steps in recovery.

This is not simply in respect of recovery from addiction but also from all the consequences of that addiction. It has allowed participants to take part in a three-year programme that allows them to recover their self-esteem and to make up for the fact that in many cases they did not avail of educational opportunities when young because of their drug addiction. Similarly, given their chaotic lives and the results thereof in respect of their relationships with friends and families, such programmes address how to rebuild those, as well as giving the participants the tools and skills required to play as full a role as they can in society in the future.

The scheme that is the subject of the issue I raise today is the Community Lynks Project in the Oblates, Inchicore. It is quite a good scheme, although I do not know whether the Minister has managed to visit it. It is similar to quite a number of other schemes and the participants all play as good a role as they can. Moreover, they have been helped in those roles by the supervisors of the community employment scheme, and in this instance the project has had a number of supervisors. However, a question mark has been raised as to whether the full complement of community employment supervisors will be retained.

I implore the Minister to try to address the situation and the particular problems faced by the Community Lynks Project and other special CE programmes because of the chaotic nature of some of the participants, who are at various stages of recovery. This can affect the number of participants in such schemes on an ongoing basis. There was an agreement between the various projects and the Minister to ensure a ratio would be worked out that would allow the supervisors to maintain some degree of communication on a one-to-one basis. While this is required under these circumstances, it is not necessarily required at the same level elsewhere. There was a recognition that the ratio in these schemes should be reduced. At present the Community Lynks Project has 32 participants, but I am informed that by the end of this week or early next week that figure will have risen to 38. However, as a review is under way at present in respect of the number of supervisors to be allowed, I urge the Minister that no decision on the future be taken without considering the future numbers of participants in the scheme. It allows for 40 participants on the scheme and while it is running below that figure at present, I am informed that by the end of the week the scheme will be close to the maximum number. Consequently, I urge the Minister to deal in particular with the temporary situation that obtains at present, whereby last week was to be the final week for one of the supervisors before the position was extended by one month. There cannot be such a situation on a month-by-month basis in which supervisors have their contracts extended. A sustainable solution must be found in this regard.

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