Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, the aim is to retain and expand the scheme in the long term. There are 500 additional places for 2017 and requests have come in for 1,000 additional places. If things go well in 2017 I anticipate looking for a further allocation to increase the rural social scheme in 2018. There will, however, be a six-year limit for new entrants as we want some turnover within the scheme, rather than people being on it for life, and we want other people from the community to have the opportunity to take part, just as is now the case with CE.

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