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

The programme for Government commitment is not about getting people onto schemes. It is about getting people into jobs. We are having enormous success in that regard. The Deputy will note from yesterday's figures that the quarterly national household survey shows that long-term unemployment in Ireland is now below 4%. Everything we are doing, whether Intreo services or JobPath services, is now being proven to be enormously successful in getting people into employment. The Deputy is right to say that community employment, CE, schemes and others are having difficulty filling posts.

They are having difficulty because the number of schemes and services has almost quadrupled, while the number of people unemployed has reduced by half. I will deal with that by broadening the pool of people who can qualify for CE and Tús schemes. I will be making an announcement on that in the coming weeks.

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