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

I am not really sure what Deputy Brady was referring to when he spoke about jobseekers not being suitable for employment. If I said something like that, I would be accused of all sorts of calumny. The usual left-wing commentators and the usual suspects on Twitter would probably be in a frenzy this minute if the words the Deputy used in the past five minutes came out of my mouth.

Of course the number of referrals to the local employment schemes is down. Unemployment is down by two thirds and, therefore, referrals are down. What we want from the local employment schemes is not having one case officer to 2,000 people; we want one case officer to about 150 people. Now that the unemployment rate is relatively low by comparison with the previous rate, the people who are now still unemployed need more one-to-one attention than those who would have been unemployed during the boom period.

I absolutely acknowledge the important role community employment plays, not only for the individual participants but also in terms of the work done in communities, be it meals on wheels, social care, child care or outdoor works, as on pitches. That is why I am determined to ensure that where a community employment scheme is providing a service in the community, we relax the rules to the extent that allows the positions to be filled.

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