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

Nearly 100,000 people have been referred to JobPath, but the Deputy did not mention that 25,000 of them are now in full-time employment, which is to be celebrated. They are older people, or even younger people, who have acquired a new skill and are now as a result in full-time employment. They include lone parents who have overcome many barriers to employment. There are also people who have set up their own business with the assistance of my Department. Not only are they now in full-time employment but they are also creating jobs for others. These are the heroes of the economy. They are people who were in receipt of welfare payments for over a year and are now in full-time employment. They number 25,000 in the last year. That is something to be celebrated, not denigrated.

The major factor in filling vacancies not only in community employment schemes but also in shops, hotels and across the board throughout the country is the fact that rate of unemployment has gone down so much. It has decreased from 15% in 2012 to 6.4% now. When one factors out short-term unemployment, where people are between jobs, the long-term unemployment rate is now 3.6%. It should not be a surprise, therefore, that not just community employment schemes but businesses all over the country are finding it hard to recruit and fill vacancies.

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