Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thought I had 30 seconds to ask a question first.

The reason we tabled the question is a mysterious line appeared in the programme for Government committing to the introduction of a fit for work programme co-ordinated by the Departments of Health and Social Protection. It immediately rang alarm bells among the Anti-Austerity Alliance because a similar scheme is operating in Britain at the moment and other elements of the programme for Government were copied and pasted from the Tory Party handbook. I would like the Minister to clarify the nature of the scheme. Despite the nice words he just used, the same comments were made about JobBridge when it was introduced. It was intended to support and help people and it turned out to be an exploitation scheme. This scheme has huge potential to be even worse because it relates to the most vulnerable people with physical and mental disabilities.

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