John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They are not individual one-off cases. There is a pattern in Turas Nua and Seetec right across the board and right across the State. These two companies are operating totally outside of their contracts. The Minister has not addressed that point, which is the core point. This JobPath scheme was set up to engage long-term unemployed people and it has deviated away from that completely. There are people engaged who are short-term unemployed for weeks and, in some cases, days. I will certainly give the Minister the evidence. In attacking me, she is attacking the people who are being threatened, bullied and intimidated by the threat of having their payments stopped.

It is not just participants. Former personal advisers have also been in touch with me. They have questioned the whole concept. They have said that the main objective when someone comes through the doors is not to let him or her outside until he or she has signed the contract. The service providers' main goal is to get these people to sign the contract because that is when the payments start flowing to them. There are serious issues here. The Minister said that if there was evidence that the providers are working outside their contracts she would act. Rather than calling me a liar in the Chamber, in light of the evidence which I have amassed over the last three months, I challenge the Minister to deal with the issues. They are not one-offs. They are not individual cases. They are systemic right across the board in Turas Nua and Seetec.

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