Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister accept that people who want to participate in community employment schemes are being excluded? This issue has been raised a number of times, including in my office in recent days. There is a constant flow of queries and many Deputies will have had the same experience. If a person has a guarantee of a job or an opportunity to participate in a community employment scheme or avail of various other opportunities and is then pulled towards Turas Nua, he or she feels obliged to take that route. People believe they are losing out on the opportunity to participate in community employment schemes or the opportunity to avail of an internship or participate in the vocational training opportunities scheme, VTOS, and that they are being excluded from what would be an opportunity to up-skill in being pulled into a one-size-that-does-not-fit-all scheme such as Turas Nua. The scheme has been in place for a number of years and is due for review. The original contract was for four years. The provision of flexibility to allow people to take the other routes, without having to enter the Turas Nua scheme, as some feel pressured to do, is one of the issues that must be identified.

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